The New Neighbor (Reboot)
by What'sAnAngelWithoutHisGrace
Summary: What happens when a new person moves in across the street from the Arcobaleno? Well, Colonnello is about to find out. A reboot from my story The New Neighbor.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! So I know it's been life forever...but forgive me! I've just now gotten a new writing program onto my computer and it's taken me a while to figure out how to use it...but I actually uploaded this! I'm still not sure what I want to do with this yet, but I just wanted to re-write it to see what it would turn into. I honestly can't promise that this would be updated regularly, but I'll try. So I would just kindly like to say that if this chapter sounds weird at all keep in mind that A) I'm going to be redoing this story entirely (which will eventually consist of my other two stories being changed) and B) Due to insomnia I wrote a majority of this at 2 in the morning.**

 **As usual, I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**

* * *

"Someone's moving in across the street." Verde said, looking over Viper's shoulder from where she was perched on the window sill. He took a sip of his coffee and leaned against the wall.

Viper snickered and turned a page in her book. "They'll be gone in a month when Luce has one of her formals." She said breathlessly; an amused smile hidden under the curtain that was her hair.

"What do they look like?" Skull asked from where he was, under the coffee table trying to fix the wobbly leg that had been bothering all of them for a month now.

Verde leaned in close to the window. "He's blond, blue eyes, and tall. He's got a cast on his left arm. Holds himself in the same way that Lal Mirch does so I'm going to assume that he's part of the military."

"Maybe he's in her unit." Fon called out from the kitchen.

"We should invite him over for breakfast, I don't want this one to move away like all of the others have." Luce said as she walked into the sitting room from the kitchen, a bowl of bread dough resting on her pregnant stomach.

Verde made a groaning sound and busied himself with drinking his coffee, which earned him a glare from Luce and Viper/

"Viper, you should come with me to invite him over." Luce said, smiling beautifully at the younger woman.

Viper made an even louder groan than Verde and slammed her book shut. She stood up and motioned to the fact that she was wearing fluffy frog pajamas and matching slippers.

Luce waved off her argument with a wave of her hand. "Just put your clothes on over your pajamas, it'll be fine." She said as she passed the bowl of dough into Verde's unexpected hands, and went to fetch both of their cloaks.

Viper let out an annoyed huff and turned to put Fantasma down so he didn't try and wander off while they were outside. "I don't see why she can't wait until Lal Mirch and Reborn get back from their morning jog, she knows I don't like to meet new people." She mumbled darkly under her breath as Verde looked at the bread dough in confusion.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Verde asked, oblivious to Viper's words of anger towards their boss.

"Just go to the kitchen and see what Fon needs you to do." Viper hissed, annoyed at the so called genius.

Verde, looking slightly offended by the younger woman, stalked out of the sitting room into the kitchen's as Luce came back with the cloaks.

"Will you be a dear and help me with my cloak?" She asked, giving the other woman a pitiful look.

Viper sighed and helped her into the coat. "You ask so much of me for so little pay." She tsked.

Luce laughed and pat her on the cheek. "I'll put some money in your account mio caro."

"It's the least that you could do for all that you put me through." Viper sniffed, sticking her nose in the air as she escorted Luce out of the estate right as Reborn and Lal Mirch ran in.

"No running in the house, you know I don't like when you two run in the house!"Luce shouted after them. They always broke at least one of her expensive vases or ruined one of the paintings.

"We know what we're doing Luce!" Reborn shouted from somewhere in the house.

"They don't know what they're doing. I've known them most of my adult life and they've been winging everything since before that." Viper said as they made their way to their new neighbors house.

"I wish they would tell us more about what they were like as children." Luce sighed, rubbing her stomach in an act of comfort.

They were close enough now to their neighbors house to hear what was being said between their newest neighbor and the people who were helping him.

"Thank you for helping on such short notice, my boss broke my arm yesterday, kora." The tall blond man that they assumed was their neighbor.

Viper gasped and turned to Luce. "I know who that is!" She whisper yelled to the woman, glad that they were far away to not be heard.

Luce looked at Viper in confusion. "Who is he?" she asked.

"He's Lal's student! The one that she was to personally train!" She hissed, a nervous excitement creeping up inside of her. If things went well Viper could see herself coming into a lot of money.

"I wasn't aware that any of her students were allowed to live off base." Luce said. She was sure that Lal had mentioned something about it before.

Viper waved her boss off. "They aren't, but once they graduate her hell camp they can. Lal moved in directly after her training was over." She reminded her boss.

"Well then, Lal Mirch would be so pleased to know that one of her students is moving in right across the street from us!" Luce said happily.

"Oh Lal Mirch is gonna be something that's for sure." Viper said.

Luce smiled and turned so that the two could finish their trek to their neighbors home.

"Good morning!" Luce shouted happily, waiving to the blond man.

He turned to them, seemingly surprised to see that someone had come to see him. "Hello, kora." He flashed them a grin that made Luce question what a man like him could be doing in Lal Mirch's boot camp.

"We live across the street, and we were wondering if you would want to come over for breakfast." Luce said, one hand on her stomach and the other holding onto Viper's arm tightly.

At that the man looked even more surprised. "Well, kora, I've got to finish moving my stuff in."

"Oh don't you worry about that sir, we can handle all of this." One of the men who were helping him said.

"We have a man who can make the best pancakes in the country," Viper said, speaking for the first time, a lovely smile on her face. Oh yes, she was going to enjoy this. "And we make our bread fresh every morning." She said, remembering the bowl of dough.

Viper knew people, knew when someone's attention had been caught and how to drag them in further; and this man was tempted.

"It would be a pleasure, kora." The man said, walking down the steps of his house so that he was level with the two women. "My name's Colonnello."

"I'm Luce, and this is Mammon Esper." Luce said, extending her hand. If he recognized the name he didn't show it and Luce had the slightest bit of hope that Lal's soldiers didn't know too much about what went on in the underworld.

"Now, how about we get going. I can't wait to introduce you to the rest of our roommates." Viper said with a smile that Luce knew meant no good.

* * *

Colonnello didn't expect much when he moved into his new home; didn't expect to have one broken arm courtesy of Lal Mirch herself, and he definitely didn't expect for two women to come and invite him over to their house for breakfast, and he would have said no but it's been so long since the last time that he had a homemade meal that he couldn't possibly refuse.

So that's how Colonnello found himself seated at a table with six other people, two of which he had grown up with!

"I can't believe that out of all the houses in Italy you bought the one across the street from us!" Fon said happily after hugging his childhood friend for the first time in years, careful of the arm that was broken.

"Small world after all kora." Colonnello laughed, hugging his dear friend back as best as he could.

"Hey bitch, what happened to your arm?" Reborn asked as way of greeting, knowing exactly what had happened.

Colonnello sighed, he really shouldn't have expected anything different from Reborn. "Lal and I got into an argument yesterday kora, and she got a little too aggressive...as usual." He said with an odd amount of affection in his voice.

Fon an Reborn exchanged a glance.

"You still see Lal Mirch regularly?" Fon asked curiously as he sipped at his tea. Even after years of living in Italy he couldn't take the taste of coffee.

Colonnello nodded. "About a year ago I was placed in her unit. Just now getting out of her Spartan classes." He said with a small laugh. "We've been arguing the whole time. You know how Lal is, kora."

"Oh yeah, I couldn't imagine living with her again." Reborn said casually.

Luce didn't ignore the added word; _again_. He and Lal Mirch had lived together before, and now this new person was another piece of the three's weird past.

The room was quiet save for the sound of footsteps that were slowly coming closer.

"Is there someone else that lives here, kora?" Colonnello asked, looking around the kitchen. Six seemed like a big crowd to him already, not counting the baby in Luce's stomach, but seven people living in one house must be insane no matter the size of the estate.

"You'll love them, don't worry." Reborn said, a grin on his face.

None of them brought up the way that Verde pulled out a pen and a notebook from seemingly nowhere.

"Good morning all." Said the newest person.

Colonnello sat up straighter immediately, eyes wide at the voice that he could identify at any given moment. He watched with wide eyes as none other than Lal Mirch walked into the kitchen, hair still damp from the shower that she must have just gotten out of, and made herself a cup of coffee, not noticing that there was a new addition to her kitchen. (He made a note to bring that up while they were at the base in front of the other soldiers)

"Good morning commander, kora." Colonnello said, giving her the most shit-eating grin that he could manage.

The room was quiet for about two minutes before Lal Mirch let out a shriek of absolute fury and hurled her coffee cup, still full, at Colonnello's head.

If Reborn and Viper laughed till they had no breath left, no one seemed to notice.


	2. Chapter 2

**Guys look, I updated! And it hasn't been a year, or a month or anything! This chapter actually made me really amused and I think it's only because I've been up since 2 am and wrote a majority of this today.**

 **So, as usual I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**

* * *

Lal Mirch enjoyed how her life was at the moment. She lived with people that she could, for the most part, stand, and she had a schedule that wasn't often disturbed.

Wake up, jog with Reborn or whoever is up to it, shower, breakfast, and then go to work at the CEDEF seeing as the military didn't have any classes for her to teach at the moment.

She was expecting things to go as they usually did, she expected Luce and Fon to be making small talk, she expected Viper to be counting her money, she expected Reborn to be an ass the entire time. It was all routine things that they did.

What she didn't expect was Colonnello, her idiot of a student Colonnello, sitting at her kitchen table having breakfast with her roommates.

"Good morning commander, kora." He said in that stupidly excited way of his, grinning at her like a fool.

Lal closed her eyes and counted down from 60 two times, her co-workers told her that it would help her calm down. She hoped that when she opened her eyes the idiot would be gone, and that everything would be fine again...but when Lal Mirch opened her eyes again the fool was still sitting at her kitchen table, smiling at her.

Lal Mirch did what any women in her situation would do; she yelled and threw her mug, which was still full of coffee, at his head.

Now, in her defense she did feel slightly bad when the ceramic mug broke against his head, leaving bits of it in his face and hair...but right now she was angry...so she did the other thing that any reasonable woman would do if she were faced with the biggest pain in her ass. She lunged for his damn throat.

* * *

Fon sighed, he would like to say that he didn't see this coming but he did. He knew exactly what Lal Mirch would do the moment that he saw Luce and Viper escort Colonnello into their home and was prepared to hold her back from hurting the poor creature even more than she already had while Reborn stood in the background and laughed.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in my house?" Lal shouted, struggling against Fon's arms to get to Colonnello; who didn't really seem to mind that he just had a coffee cup, still full, thrown at his head.

"Well, kora, I moved in across the street and your roommates invited me over for breakfast." Colonnello said, still not bothered by the cup that had broken against him.

Fon would give Colonnello some credit, the military did toughen him up quite a bit...but he supposed that's what you got when you trained under Lal Mirch.

"But did you really have to throw a coffee cup at me you crazy bitch! First you break my damn arm, and now this!" Colonnello shouted.

Ah yes, this is the pair that Fon grew up with.

"Who the fuck told you to buy the house across the street from me you idiot!" Lal shouted, but she didn't seem to want to attack him anymore...Lal struggled another moment or two before she calmed herself down, but Fon didn't let her go for another minute or two.

"Well, this is an interesting turn of events." Reborn said, a wide grin on his face.

Luce gave her boyfriend a nasty glare as she moved to get the first aid kit that they kept in the kitchen for obvious reasons.

"You knew this would happen and you know it Reborn. Lal Mirch, sit down and eat; we are going to have a nice family breakfast and nothing else will be thrown until lunch time at least." Fon said looking at everyone in the room sternly while Luce dropped the first aid kit in front of Lal Mirch.

"Before you eat you're going to clean his wounds since you did throw a mug at him." Luce said to Lal, still managing a smile the entire time.

Lal huffed out a laugh. "I'm not cleaning that bastard's wounds ever again." She snarled.

Colonnello rolled his eyes. "I wasn't even that bad of a student, I don't see why you hate me so much Lal, kora." He scoffed.

"Why do you hate him so much big sister?" Skull asked, using the nickname that he often used for the females of the house, except for Viper who was younger than him by a few months. He got away with calling her little sister on rare occasions, but never when they were in public or had guests since she didn't like when guests knew if she was a man or woman. Some days Viper wanted to be a man, some days Viper wanted to be a woman and they were all just pleased to know what to call her on a given day.

"Should I give them all a long list starting from the day we met?" Lal asked, a sour expression on her face.

"Oh, oh you should definitely tell them about the first time we met." Reborn said, sounding excited.

He was rewarded with looks of absolute hatred from his childhood friends.

"I didn't do anything to you, kora!" Colonnello shouted.

"That is literally the biggest lie you've ever told." Fon said, sitting down beside Colonnello to help him get the ceramic out of him that he couldn't do himself.

Viper put down her money, after writing down the amount that she had, and looked between the lot. "So do we get to know what's going on or do we have to figure it out ourselves?" She asked, curiously.

Fon sighed as he reached for disinfectant. "The four of us grew up together, we all went separate ways when we grew up but due to a strange turn of events we all somehow turned up in this one neighborhood. Of course Lal, Reborn and I have seen each other almost every day the last two years, and Colonnello has been in Lal's special forces squad for maybe a year now but this is the first time we've all been in the same room since we were nineteen." He said as he worked.

"That doesn't explain why Lal Mirch wants to murder him." Verde said.

"Do I really need to have an excuse to hate him? You would hate someone you grew up with if they were as annoying as Colonnello was." Lal said, grabbing a plate from the cabinet and sitting down at the table to make herself breakfast.

"You broke his arm!" Luce exclaimed.

"I've broken more than his arm before, he's fine...aren't you Colonnello?" Lal asked, trying her best to not look at him.

"Besides, he's right handed so she did him a favor." Reborn added in.

"You see, he's fine." Lal said casually.

"I am not fine kora! You had no reason to break my arm!" Colonnello shouted.

"Yes I did, you proposed to me." Lal said angrily. "In front of half of the military!"

"You proposed to her!" Luce shouted excitedly. "I wasn't aware that you were in that sort of a relationship with anyone Lal!" She said.

Reborn snorted and sipped at his coffee. "They aren't, Colonnello's had it in his head that he could convince her to marry him since we were little kids."

"It was an honest question kora! You didn't have to break my damn arm!" Colonnello told her.

Viper was cackling in her seat, drying invisible tears out of her topaz eyes. "Oh my god, I think I'm going to die." She said between howls of laughter.

"All evidence leads to Lal Mirch being the worst person that anyone could be in any sort of relationship with. One of my labs was literally on fire once and she walked by with a bottle of water and didn't bat an eyelash." Verde said, shooting a glare at the woman across from him.

Lal shrugged. "You took my car without my permission and drove to Spain for a week." She told him in response. "I called Skull, who did help you."

"That sounds about accurate, kora." Colonnello laughed, any hints of previous anger gone as he let Fon finish cleaning the multiple cuts on his face.

Luce smiled at them, it was nice to see her guardians interacting with each other in a non violent way. "Why don't you come over for dinner as well Colonnello, those of us who didn't grow up with you can get to know you better." She said, hoping that they didn't notice that this was a new way of prying information out of her roommates...in fact, she could probably get information out of all of them if she tried hard enough. Of course she already had everything on them that she could get out of files and spies, that she totally didn't hire (and they totally didn't know about them), but it was good to hear things from the people themselves.

Lal made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat, and Reborn tried not to give his girlfriend a look or betrayal. Fon and Colonnello seemed to be the only ones who truly appreciated the invitation.

"I would love to Luce, kora." Colonnello said gratefully to the woman across the table from him. "It's nice to see that I've moved into a neighborhood with at least one caring neighbor."

Verde snorted into his coffee. "Just wait until her pregnancy hormones kick in, she won't be nice for long once you see that."

There was a quiet moment in the kitchen when no one said anything, but all decided that now was the time to stuff their faces with their breakfast.

"I am insulted." Luce said when the quiet had gone on for far too long. Of course, she was smiling the entire time that she said it so they knew she wasn't actually insulted with them.

"You took my stash of butterscotch cookies and dipped them in pickle juice! My stash!" Viper exclaimed, pointing at the woman with one of her nice fancy pens that she had stolen from Verde.

Verde looked at her oddly, "Is that my pen Esper?" He asked sounding like he had been purposely offended by Viper.

"Umm no, this is my pen. That's why I have it." Viper said without missing a beat.

"It's definitely hers, I was there when she bought it. Actually, I bought it because apparently we are platonic soulmates and this is apparently things that platonic soulmates do for each other." Lal said before taking a sip of her coffee, daring anyone to challenge her.

Viper had this odd thing where when she was mad at someone she would not only steal all of the money out of their wallets, but take their most expensive looking pen. Lal had no idea why her friend would steal someone's pen, but she would cover for her if needed. Because that's what platonic soulmates did.

"You're damn right I'm your platonic soulmate." Viper said, leaning over the table to high five Lal, a smug look on her face.

"I must say, I am actually offended. I thought I was your platonic soulmate Mammon." Luce said, putting a hand over her heart.

"I can't be your platonic soulmate, you don't let me pick-pocket people off of the street like Lal Mirch does." Viper said with all seriousness.

Colonnello and Fon gave Lal looks of surprise. No Lal Mirch they knew would let someone steal from someone else!

"If I don't know them I personally don't care what happens to their crap as long as she doesn't steal from the elderly or the poor." Lal said with a shrug.

"I'll be your platonic soulmate Luce." Skull said sincerely to the pregnant woman next to him.

Luce smiled sweetly at Skull and leaned over to give him a hug. "Oh, thank you sweetie." She said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Reborn made a noise in the back of his throat that was close to the one that Lal had made earlier. "I am right here Luce, mother to my unborn child and honorable boss."

"Oh Reborn, you can't be my platonic soulmate if you're my romantic soulmate!" Luce said, swatting at her long time boyfriend playfully.

"You can be my platonic soulmate, kora." Colonnello said to Reborn, a fond look on his face.

Reborn snorted and gave Colonnello a look of disgust. "Please, we both know that Fon is my platonic soulmate."

"I am not your platonic soulmate, nor am I your romantic soulmate. I am my own soulmate and I do not need you or anyone else to tell me other wise." Fon said with finality.

Lal looked impressed with her friend. "As great as this is, some of us actually have to go to work." She said, standing up and taking her plates with her.

"I thought you didn't have any classes for a few more months, kora." Colonnello said in confusion. Unless Lal Mirch was still working with the CEDEF, of course she would have told him if she was still working with them...at least Colonnello would like to believe that she would tell him if she were.

"I have other jobs than the military. Mammon, are we carpooling?" Lal asked, seemingly ignoring Colonnello.

"Are you buying me coffee from that one place?" Viper asked, rising from her perch.

Lal sighed. "If I must." In all honesty she didn't have to, they carpooled every morning and every morning Lal stopped at a cafe down the road from the Varia and bough Viper a strawberry creme latte and a regular coffee for herself.

"Just let me get dressed and we can head out." Viper said after putting her dishes in the sink to be washed at a later time...which basically meant when Skull did the morning dishes like he always did since he was the last to leave the house every day and Verde was a lazy shit who worked at home for the most part. She left the kitchen quietly, floating through the hallways like she so often did.

"Whose turn is it to go to the grocery store?" Verde asked.

"Yours." Everyone in the kitchen said, excluding Colonnello who didn't know shit about how their household worked.

"It's been your turn to go to the grocery store for the last week which is why we don't have shit in this house." Reborn said, throwing open the pantry doors to reveal a pathetic looking pantry.

Luce signed. "My poor pantry. Verde, how could you ever let my poor pantry become so pathetic?" She asked sorrowfully.

"Shame on you Verde, hurting a poor pregnant woman." Fon tsked, shaking his head disapprovingly at the scientist.

Verde sighed in defeat. "I literally hate all of you." He said, taking his plates to the sink and grabbing his car keys from the counter.

"We love you too. The list is where it usually is." Reborn said.

"You should pick me up some sports drinks, kora, the same kind that Lal drinks!" Colonnello shouted after Verde.

* * *

 **Honestly the platonic soulmate thing was my sisters idea and I loved it too much to leave it out.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Look, an Easter miracle! Lol it felt like it took me forever to write this!**

 **I still don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**

* * *

"So talk, Mirch." Viper said when the two were in the safety that was Lal Mirch's car for the morning. Viper was already adjusting the temperature in the car to fit her liking at the moment knowing that Lal wouldn't care what she did in the long run.

Lal's car was one of Viper's favorite cars, mainly because she spent the most time in Lal's car. It was Austrian made, with special heaters in the seats, nice storage space, and pretty good gas milage that most of the Arcobaleno took advantage of every chance they could. Long road trips to Sicily? Lal's car. Half of them needed to be in the same place at the same time? Lal's car. Someone needed help getting a couch? Not Lal's car actually, maybe Fon's. Lal had this weird thing about not helping people move in or out.

Viper had gotten her license three years ago, and had driven proudly for about a month before she got a little too angry on the road and flipped a car...after that Squalo and Luce came to the decision that she wasn't allowed to drive anymore. She was still going through Squalo's driving school and got long lectures on how the Varia and the rest of the Arcobaleno wouldn't allow her to be such a reckless driver and tarnish their names somehow with her terrible driving...which is why she carpooled with Lal.

"About what?" Lal asked, stopping at a red light. Her hands tapped at the steering wheel anxiously and changing the radio channel every other minute. There was an aux cord in the glove compartment that she could use, but that would mean reaching over Viper to get it and she just wasn't in the mood for that.

Viper made a sound of protest when Lal changed the channel on a song that she genuinely liked to listen to, and changed it back. "About the blond man in our kitchen." She said, slapping Lal's hands away when she tried to change the channel again.

"He is an idiot, who doesn't know how to do anything for himself, I'm actually surprised that he bought a house without calling me to ask me how to do it, and he's one of the most immature people you will ever meet in your entire life." Lal said, biting the inside of her cheek to stop the eventual rant that was going to go on if anyone got her started on the blond idiot that she called a student.

"He's also been your best friend since we were six, helped you when your parents died, and you're his emergency contact." Reborn's voice rang out from the backseat of Lal's car.

Lal swore loudly and gripped the steering wheel tightly. She should have known the bastard was going to hide in the backseat of her car. "When did you even have the chance to sneak into my car?" She asked, more exasperated than angry.

"When you were explaining to Verde that he wasn't to get the wrong kind of dish soap or he's gonna break out into hives like he did last time." Reborn said, putting his feet on the center console, arms folded behind his head. For a genius Verde was stupid about what common household things he was allergic to.

"Get your disgusting feet off the console." Viper hissed, smacking his hands away.

"I'm not buying you espresso." Lal said, pulling into a parking space next to the café.

Reborn gave his friend a hurt expression, and put a hand over his heart in mock offense. "Lal Mirch, I can't believe that you would say something like that to me. You know that I can't be in the same room as espresso and not have any." He said.

"I never said you couldn't have any, I just said that I wasn't buying it for you." Lal said. "If you had told me that you were coming with us, I would have bought you coffee. But you didn't, so now you have to buy your own." She said with finality.

"If I had told you that I was coming I wouldn't get to hear what you had to say when Fon and I weren't around." Reborn said, getting out of the car with Viper and Lal. He was fidgeting with his sideburns, and Viper had the strange urge to cut one of them off...just to piss him off. "We all know that you and Viper bullshit behind our backs."

Lal rolled her eyes at him, of course he was going to use their new, idiotic, neighbor against her any chance he could get so he had to be a nosy bastard. "We both know how I feel, Reborn." She hit the back of his head as he walked past her.

"Lal, I want a cake." Viper said when they came up to the bar, ignoring her roommates completely, her eyes glued to the display of sweets.

Lal gave her a look that said to go for it, and waited until Viper had chosen which cake she wanted before she ordered for the two of them.

"You really won't buy me an espresso?" Reborn asked when the three were sitting down at a window table waiting for their drinks.

Lal shook her head no. "I told you I'm not buying you espresso, if you want it so bad go and get it yourself." She told him.

"She loves me more than you." Viper taunted, waving a forkful of strawberry shortcake in his face before she stuffed it in her mouth with a self-satisfied look on her face.

Reborn looked offended. "I've known her since we were six, you aren't allowed to be her favorite." He told her, swiping a plump strawberry off of her plate.

"Get your hands away from my cake, Reborn." Viper said, slapping his hands away. "This is the last ten minutes of sanity for the next thirteen hours, leave me alone."

Reborn shrugged, and took another strawberry.

The barista called Lal's name.

"Can I trust you two alone for a minute without you guys burning this place to the ground?" Lal questioned her friends, an eyebrow raised.

The two looked at each other, and shook their heads no.

Lal sighed. "This is just a risk we're gonna have to take." She said, and left them.

Viper took the opportunity to give Reborn a large grin. "So you're gonna text me details about the four of you, right?" She asked. "I can't not have details."

"Already emailed you all of the good stuff." Reborn said, showing her the email confirmation.

The Arcobaleno lived for things like group chats, and emails, and Snapchat. Oh how Skull loved Snapchat. Viper liked anything that she could screenshot and use for blackmail later. Luce liked to use group chats to make sure that everyone in the house was on the same page about something. Reborn, Lal and Verde mostly communicated in email and phone calls. Fon was excessively obsessed with making playlists in his free time. They all got a new playlist that Fon has made for them at least twice a month.

Viper grinned, and held out her hand for her coffee. "Do you guys have lunch plans?" She asked, taking her phone out of her cloak to check her messages. She had five from Bel asking where she was and at least two from Squalo telling her to get her ass to the Varia.

"I've actually got to catch a flight to Spain, I'm not going to be home until dinner hopefully." Reborn said.

"I've got plans already." Lal said, fishing her car keys out of her dress pants. "The CEDEF is having a lunch meeting with Nono and his guardians." She explained. They all knew that the CEDEF was a relatively calm place to be at the moment, there was nothing drastic going on with the Vongola so they were all assuming that they were having a meeting about the future of the Vongola.

Viper groaned and returned her attention to her phone. "Thanks for nothing." She said grumpily. "I've got to have lunch with Lussuria and Bel now."She pulled her door open and flung herself into the seat.

"I'm not driving you to the airport." Lal said aloud, because she couldn't think of what else to say.

Reborn, espresso less and already bored with his decision to hide in Lal's car, gave her an annoyed look. "What good are you today? You're not getting angry at anything that I do and you're being stubborn." He told his friend.

"Excuse me for being a responsible adult, I was going to call a cab for you when we got to the CEDEF but you can do it yourself now." Lal said in the same tone that she used with Basil when he did something that they didn't approve of. It was nicer than the tone she used with her soldiers, but it wasn't nice either. Luce liked to call it Lal's parent voice.

Reborn gave Lal Mirch a dirty glare, but he already had a taxi waiting for him at the CEDEF. "Oregano would make me an espresso." He said.

Viper laughed, not looking up from her phone. Getting into the Varia from the outside was one of the most difficult things to do; you had to type in a passcode at the very front gates that changed every day (which Bel sends to her everyday), and then you had to put in the pin number that you were assigned to. Not to mention the multiple traps that were on the inside of the mansion. Viper realized that she could just phase herself into the mansion without all of this hassle. She realized that she could live in the mansion like the rest of the core Varia did, but she was perfectly fine with living with the rest of the Arcobaleno and having a room in the Varia for nights where she was just too tired to go home. Xanxus didn't care what she did about her living arrangement so long as she did her goddamn job. Besides, if she was to live in the Varia she wouldn't get free coffee and pastries out of Lal Mirch every morning.

"Alright brat, this is where I leave you." Lal said, stopping the car at the front gate of the Varia like she did every morning.

"If you die I'm boiling Fantasma." Reborn shouted while he slipped out of the car to get to the now vacant front seat. "We all know how much I love frog legs!"

Without looking up from the keypad Viper gave Reborn the finger. "I'm going to shave off your sideburns in your sleep and burn all your suits." She called back lovingly, and then she disappeared.

"Was that necessary?" Lal asked when they were on the road that would take them to the CEDEF HQ.

"Was throwing a coffee cup at Colonnello's head necessary?" Reborn shot back, putting his feet up on the dashboard in a way that he knew angered Lal Mirch.

The woman in question sighed. She should have seen this coming. "I admit that throwing a cup at him wasn't one of my best moments...but we all let anger get the best of us sometimes." She said thoughtfully.

"You literally broke his arm, Lal." Reborn reminded her. "What are you gonna do about him living right next door?"

"Ignore him to the best of my ability." Lal said like it should have been obvious from the very beginning.

"He doesn't know you still work with the mafia." Reborn stated, remembering the look he gave her when she said she didn't just work for the military.

"No, that never came up in the military, believe it or not." Lal said under her breath.

"He's going to find out." He told her.

"Colonello is a grown man, he can live with me working with both the mafia and the military just like he worked with the mafia when we were younger." Lal shrugged it off casually.

Reborn gave her the side eye. "Luce is going to want us to tell her more things about us now." He told her. "We can't get out of this forever."

"As much as I would prefer not to talk about it, but we can't blow her off all of the time." Lal answered, hands on the wheel tightly. "Besides, if we have to tell the others about our past lives then it's only fair that we weasel it out of the others as well."

"You're being very mature about this Lal Mirch, are you finally out of your 'beat everything to the ground if it annoys me' stage?" Reborn asked curiously as they pulled into the CEDEF.

Unlike the rest of the mafia, the CEDEF was disguised in plain sight as a regular office building, sitting between a nail salon and a clothing shop that Luce liked to visit. There was a taxi sitting outside the nail salon, waiting.

"I'm always down for beating things to the ground. But in this situation I can't do anything." Lal sighed, defeated. If Luce weren't part of the picture it would be easier. They could have Colonnello as a neighbor and their only problem would be Viper, who is easy to pay off, but Luce wanted to know everything that none of them wanted to share for the sheer fact that it was their own business.

Reborn looked flabbergasted, an expression only used to describe small children in Lal's book. "The military sure did a number on you my dear friend."

"Yeah, no, I was actually just gonna lie through my damn teeth until she believed the utter bullshit." Lal told him, sounding more like the Lal that he grew up with.

"I like that plan, I'll text Fon and Colonnello to get them in on it." Reborn said as they exited the car, phone already out as he headed for the taxi.

* * *

Colonnello couldn't really believe what was going on right now. This whole day was going like a blur in his opinion.

Him and two of Lal's roommates were in his new home, (he lived in his very own home across from Lal Mirch and Reborn, and Fon!) helping him decorate the interior while the rest of them went off to work.

"I think the sectional would look lovely in the center of the room." Luce was saying to him and Skull, who didn't go out to practice to keep an eye on the pregnant woman throughout the day.

Well...Luce was telling the two of them where to put everything while she walked around the estate, he still couldn't believe he owned an estate, and told them where she thought things should go. Colonnello was not going to tell the woman that she couldn't have her way.

So the two of them moved the sectional to the center of the room and put the coffee table at least three feet away from it like Luce instructed them to.

"Sp, Colonnello, how was it like growing up with the others?" Luce asked as she busied herself with little things like putting things on the coffee table and throwing a homemade looking blanket over one of the reclining chairs, and putting up photos.

Colonnello laughed, oh the stories that he could tell. "It was eventful, kora."

Luce hummed pleasantly. It wasn't the answer that she wanted, but it would do for now. She was sitting down at the sectional with a box of framed photos while the two of them set up the entertainment center. There were pictures of Colonnello as a small child with a boy not much younger than him with unruly hair, and another boy whose braid grew with every picture. Luce smiled fondly at the pictures of her boys and made a note to ask Colonnello if she could get copies. Looking through the photos there were a lot of them all together, with the additional Lal in a majority of them after they turned what looked to be six years old. Some of the photos consisted of all four of them, some didn't even have Colonnello in them. Luce's favorites were tied between one of the four of them as teens, maybe Vipers age when she first moved in at the ripe age of eighteen, all dressed in formal clothing, and one that seemed to be the newest of Colonnello and Lal Mirch at what could only be the military base, taken maybe a year ago at best. Lal Mirch was pouting, that was the only way that Luce could describe it, and Colonnello had one arm draped around her shoulders and one arm holding up a water bottle, a triumphant smile on his face.

Luce was in love with it.

"You have such lovely photo's, I don't think I've seen so many photo's of my roommates in my life." Luce said aloud.

Colonnello and Skull turned from their task to look at her.

"Oh, I didn't realize those were there kora." Colonnello said when he figured out what Luce was talking about.

Luce held up the photo of the four of them dressed formally. "When was this taken?" She questioned.

Colonnello held a hand out for it. "I think, kora, that was the day before we separated. Reborn's family threw us all a giant going away party."

Luce couldn't imagine any of them with actual, biological families. It all seemed so weird that they could all have mothers, fathers, siblings even. She was so used to them all as her Arcobaleno that she forgot that they all came from somewhere, that they all had some kind of past.

"You all look so happy, what happened?" Skull asked, nose scrunched up in a way that Luce thought made him look cute in a little brother sort of way.

That earned a laugh from Colonello. "Lal Mirch and Reborn were the weirdest kids you will ever meet. Reborn is, well, Reborn...And Lal Mirch grew up with stricter parents than the rest of us so, kora, we give her the benefit of the doubt."

A phone rang out, a ringtone that Luce didn't know, and Colonnello returned the photo to Luce to answer it. Luce watched in amusement as Colonnello checked whatever message it was that he got, and promptly snorted. It wasn't an attractive sound, but it was endearing in the way that Luce could definitely see her Rain snapping over it.

"Was that from Lal Mirch?" She asked curiously.

Colonnello shook his head. "No, kora, just an old friend sending me something that he thought I would enjoy….let me see that photo?" Colonnello asked, looking at the photo that was still in one of Luce's open hands curiously.

With a smile Luce handed Colonnello the photo of him and Lal Mirch. "Does she know you have this?" She asked him curiously.

Colonnello nodded slowly. "Yeah, kora, I gave her a copy of it when I had them developed. Not sure if she kept them or not. She's not the most sentimental of people." He told the two of them with a shrug, a small smile tugging at his lips. As if Lal's refusal to having anything to do with him was his favorite thing about her. "I'm gonna go put this somewhere safe." He said, and turned to leave the Sky Arcobaleno with her Cloud.

"I think," Luce said quietly to Skull, "That having Colonnello around is going to be a lovely thing for all of us."

* * *

 **So I realize it's probably weird to think of the Arcobaleno as people who drive, and use social media but tbh I really love the idea of them all using social media in some way or another.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Guys, guys; I'm actually getting chapters up! Here's to hoping that I don't totally crash and burn anytime soon.**

 **I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**

* * *

"Bel, you won't believe the shit that happened this morning." Mammon said as a greeting to the younger male, and promptly sat down across from him in the Varia dining room.

"Shishishi, what happened that's gotten the little peasant so worked up?" Bel asked between sips of coffee. Bel knew well enough by now that Mammon only got excited when money or blackmail was involved, so one of the two had been given to them that morning and Bel was curious to see just which one it was. Maybe it was both. "Did the peasant woman who brings you here everyday buy you a cream puff or something this morning?" He asked, noticing the coffee cup that was in their hands.

"First, it was a strawberry cake, and second; someone moved in across the street from the Arcobaleno house...and they grew up with Fon, Reborn, and Lal, and he was one of Lal Mirch's students in the military….which means that I could get information out of the fresh meat that the others won't give me. Think of all the money that I can make out of them because of this. I could get so many bad photos of them, and learn all the horrible stories that they won't tell the rest of us!" Mammon said with what Bel suspected was to be glee, it wasn't a thing that one saw often in the Varia house.

Squalo made a noise between a snort and a laugh. "VOI, why are you the way that you are Mammon? Why can't you just leave your damned roommates alone? Why won't you leave us alone? We haven't even done anything to deserve your blackmail. I haven't done anything to deserve your blackmail!" He shouted, annoyed with their Mist.

Bel suspected that Mammon had blackmailed his way into getting some sort of money from Squalo in the last forty-eight hours because usually Squalo didn't care about Mammon's money stealing ways.

Mammon stuck his head up high, proud of whatever act he's done this time. "Because, money is immortal. It's a can be used everywhere. Humans repeat their lives over and over, and over. If I have as much as I possibly can, in my next life I'll be the richest person in the world." Mammon said it with so much emotion that Bel figured that the Mist had been thinking this over for most of their life.

Squalo and Levi looked at Mammon like he had lost his head, but Bel didn't really care. They literally killed people for a living, he didn't think they had much right to give Mammon the Judgy Face.

"You've got issues." Levi said, giving Mammon the side eye.

The only indication that they got to Mammon seeming to care about what Levi said were illusions of vines crawling up Levi's chair, wrapping themselves around the man before they dragged him downwards; breaking through the floor and falling straight down into the basement.

Bel was oddly proud that Mammon didn't even have to stop scrolling through his phone to do it.

Lussuria sighed and looked down at the Levi shaped hole in the floor. "I was really hoping that we would get through one meal without something like this happening." He said.

"He deserved it. Telling ME that I have issues when he's the one who all but worship's Boss and he tells ME that I have issues." Mammon was muttering under his breath, head tilted downwards to look at the hole as well.

He was probably trying to think of how much it was going to cost to repair their floor this time.

Mammon sighed and stood from his chair. "I'm going to go see what my assignment is for the day." He said with a tone of finality.

"Have fun trying, he's been pissy all morning." Squalo called after the younger man, getting a half-assed wave in return.

Mammon slipped into Xanxus' office quietly, like mist one would say, and strode quietly over to the desk in the center of the room.

"I've come for my assignment for the day." Mammon said as he sat down across from the older man.

Xanxus only looked up from the folder in front of him to look at the computer screen in front of him, an annoyed look on the man's face. "There are none." He said.

Mammon gave him an odd look, that he couldn't really see under the hood but was still here. "What do you mean there isn't any?" He hissed out. If he didn't get any assignments than he didn't get paid and he was not in the business of not getting paid.

"The goddamned CEDEF hasn't sent us anything that we need to do. Apparently we're 'getting along perfectly fine with the other famiglia's' at the moment. If you have any complaints talk it up with your Lal Mirch." Xanxus snapped, finally looking up at Mammon.

"What do you mean we're getting along with the other families? We're the mafia, we always have someone to kill! Reborn was just sent to handle stuff in Spain!" Mammon shouted, getting frustrated with every passing second.

"I fucking told you what I was told by the rest of the pieces of shit we work with! If you have a problem with it call your fucking lover!" Xanxus shouted right back, throwing the folder at him. It landed on the floor between them.

Mammon collected the folder off of the floor, muttering curses under his breath as he did. "She's my platonic soulmate, not my lover, you bastard." He said, loudly enough for Xanxus to hear before marching out of the office.

* * *

"Hello Viper." Lal said casually into her phone as she flipped through a few papers on her desk.

"Why doesn't the Varia have any assignments?" Viper asked, sounding just as annoyed as Lal expected from the younger person.

Lal sighed. "There isn't anything that calls for the Varia to be involved in at the moment. Things are calm right now and we're not going to do anything that would cause more harm than necessary for a bit." She responded.

"Reborn got sent to Spain!" Viper hissed back.

"Reborn got sent to Spain to pick someone up. Nono is having a special guest over and they requested an escort to Italy and she requested Reborn come with her." Lal said calmly, and nodded politely when Basil came to sit next to her behind her desk.

"Am I getting paid for this time period?" Viper asked, sounding more insulted than Lal ever remembered hearing her friend.

"Yes, you're getting paid either way." Lal answered calmly.

"What are Bel and I supposed to do without assignments?" Viper asked curiously.

"That isn't for me to decide: go to a pet store if you're gonna be that bored. Help Luce around the house." Lal said as she searched around in her desk for something to give to the five year old boy to keep him occupied.

"Ew, housework." Viper said. "I'll pass." and hung up.

"Was Mammon upset?" Basil asked her curiously.

"Mammon will be fine...how about I teach you how to assemble a hand gun…" Lal said, pulling one of her hand guns out of her desk.

* * *

"Belphegor, get the car." Mammon said, slamming the younger boys door open. "We're going out." He explained.

"Where are we going?" Bel asked curiously from where we was lounging in his couch, a book in hand.

Mammon sighed. "We're going to a pet store, and then we're going to the Arcobaleno house." He said.

Bel sat up and made a curious noise, book long forgotten. Bel was allowed to drive to the Arcobaleno house, but so far never allowed in. "Am I allowed inside of the house?"

Mammon made a face. "That is to be decided on arrival. But, Luce is home so she might invite you in."

Bel stood up and looked around the pig pen that was his bedroom for his car keys, and found them on his bedside table. "Does Boss and the shark know that we're going out?"

"We don't have anything to do, and I personally want to go to a pet store so if they have a problem with it they can kiss my ass." Mammon said, and started to count a stack of money that Bel suspected he just hid in his jacket pockets at all time.

Bel made a tsk sound in the back of his throat. "Cheeky baby." He said to the older man.

"There's a reptile that I have my eyes on." Mammon said in response.

"I wasn't aware you had eyes under that hood of yours." Bel commented idly.

"I wasn't aware you had eyes under all your hair, but apparently you do." Mammon said without looking up from his task.

Bel shrugged on a jacket and met Mammon at the door. "You don't get the aux cord."

"I always get the aux cord." Mammon said in that breathy voice of his that made Bel question everything.

* * *

"Let's get a cat." Bel said, looking at a black cat with white paws fondly.

"We are not getting a cat, the Varia is filled with enough assholes as is." Mammon said, trying to drag Bel away from the playpen filled with newborn kittens. "We can't keep it at the Arcobaleno house either because Verde doesn't get along with most animals and Luce gives pets ridiculous names."

Bel made a sound of protest as they passed a pen full of puppies. "If we aren't here for cats or dogs what are we here for?"

"Fantasma needs more food, and I want to look at some other reptiles." Mammon said as they made their way to the back of the pet store.

Bel figured the older male frequented this place often enough to know exactly where to go for the things he needed. He could see the appeal of the store; it was large and very friendly looking and had just about anything that any type of pet owner would need. He could see Luce picking this place for the Arcobaleno to frequent with any of their pet needs. Even though the only pets that he knew they had was Fantasma and a large fish tank that he had seen in pictures on Mammmon's Snapchat and various pictures that he got sent.

"Look at this one. It's huge!" Mammon said excitedly, pointing to a reptile that was labeled as a Crested Gecko.

Bel didn't get his friends obsession with animals that didn't have fur, but didn't think it was the best time to point out that he liked his scaly animals at least two miles away from him. "I thought you weren't allowed to have another pet."

"Technically, I can't. But that doesn't mean I can't look at them." Mammon said, making a cooing noise at the gecko to try and get it's attention.

Bel whined and took another glance at the puppies that were playing around with one another. "I'm getting a puppy." He said with finality. "I'm gonna name him Prince."

"Are you sure that you know how to take care of a puppy?" Mammon asked. He's known the boy for years now, but he wasn't sure if the boy could actually take care of another living creature.

Bel huffed and took a glance over at the puppies. "If I can keep you fed I can keep an animal alive." He said.

"You don't keep me fed, Lal Mirch and Lussuria, and Luce keep me fed." Mammon laughed, and took a few container of worms off of a shelf. Three containers should keep Fantasma for at least two more months.

Bel waved him off lazily. "I'm just saying that I could totally take care of a puppy."

"I'm just saying that it isn't staying at my house, and if Xanxus says that you can't keep it then you're returning it to this exact petstore. Not to a shelter, not letting it go wild. This. Petstore." Mammon said firmly. It was the easiest way to get Bel to actually listen to anything anyone said to him.

Bel took that as all of the approval that he needed and made his way over to the puppies and the kittens, trying to decide which one that he wanted. He wanted both, but two was too much of a risk. The Varia would only let him have one...He was gonna go with the cat...definitely the cat with white paws.

"Is that the one that you want?" Mammon asked him, an amused smile playing on his lips.

Bel nodded, and picked up the cat. Who made a sound close to a protest as Bel held it out to Mammon. "I'm gonna name her Socks." The Prince stated proudly. "She's gonna have her own room and everything." Belphegor said.

Mammon groaned. He already had one spoiled brat to deal with, he wasn't sure that he could handle Bel having an equally spoiled pet running around all over the Varia. "I hope you know that you're paying for all of this. Including Fantasma's worms." If Bel was going to insist on getting a pet he could pay for it himself.

"I'm sure that you have something that will cut the price." Bel said, holding the cat close to him.

Mammon frequented the pet store often enough to have a membership to the store that got him a percentage of every purchase off each purchase…"I might have something up my sleeve." He said watching Bel run around the pet store getting whatever he pleased to get for his new friend.

"Is that gonna be all for you?" The cashier asked when Bel had finally gotten at least half of the pet stores cat items. The cashier was younger than both of them, and looked as if they didn't believe that Bel could pay for all of this.

Bel and Mammon nodded, both ready to get the hell out of the pet store after spending at least two hours there arguing about things. Bel handed over his credit card, after being assured by Mammon that he had money on it, and turned to look at Mammon to see whatever it was that he had up his sleeve.

"Do either of you have a membership here?" The cashier asked, looking at the outrageous total on the screen and then to the two of them with doubt clear on their face.

Mammon held out a card. "Here." He said lazily.

The cashier looked at Mammon. "Viper Esper?" They asked, to which Mammon nodded and swiped the card, dropping the price to half of what it was before. "Here you are ma'am." They said, handing the card back.

Mammon made a sound in the back of his throat and took the card back. He had completely forgotten that he was under Viper for that card, at Luce's request and now he was gonna have to explain all of this to Bel. It wasn't that he wasn't comfortable with other people knowing that he was gender fluid, it was just that the Varia was always complicated when it came to his gender. and he rather preferred them not knowing the truth sometimes. "Bel, get your crap. I'm not putting it in the car and I'm not holding socks." With that he walked out,

Bel stared at Mammon oddly. He had heard the cashier say 'ma'am', he was sure of it. He knew that Mammon looked very feminine, but he was sure that Mammy was a male. He would have told them if he were a female, wouldn't he?

* * *

The whole way back to the Varia HQ, Bel kept giving Mammon the side eye trying to figure it all out.

Mammon was oddly short for a male his age, that was true, and he did have an oddly delicate facial structure, and his lip ring did nothing to help with that facture...but a lot of men were like that.

"Mammon, did the cashier call you ma'am on accident?" Bel asked finally.

"No." Mammon said.

"But you're a man." Bel said.

"Yes, yes I am." Mammon said, not phased by any of this.

"Then why didn't you correct them?" Bel questioned.

"Some people are female. Some people are male." Mammon said slowly, as if he were thinking of what to really say. "And some people are both."

"Are you both?" Bel asked. It was the only conclusion that Bel could come up with.

"Yes. Some days I feel like a female, and some days I feel like a male. Some days I'm just in the middle of being a female and being a male. It's called being gender fluid." Mammon said like he was explaining it to a toddler. "It also depends on the stuff going on around me, or where I am...it's just that in the Varia it's easier for me to be a male." Mammon said.

"And at the Arcobaleno house?" Bel asked.

"It depends. More often than not when I'm at home they use female pronouns for me, and I'm fine with that...and they respect when I tell them that I want to be a male for the day or if I'm just sort of in the middle that day." Mammon said casually. "They also respect that when we have company I want to be called Mammon, and that I want to use male pronouns."

"Why didn't you tell me? I thought I was your friend!" Bel exclaimed, hurt that he wasn't aware of any of this.

Mammon shrugged and messed with the radio. "No one in the Varia knows because none of you asked, you all just assumed that I was a male and I prefer it that way."

"Well, the Prince wants to be informed when you're a female and when you're a male, and when you feel in-between." Bel demanded.

Mammon snorted. "And what's in it for me if you know? You can't call me Viper in front of the rest of the Varia, I'm just not having it." He stated. "Viper is a personal name, and I will not be called by a personal name while at work."

"A date." Bel said after a long moment of silence between the two of them.

Mammon barked out a laugh. 'Oh, so now that you know I go by female pronouns you want to go on a date with me Belphegor? You're absolutely ridiculous." He huffed.

Bel groaned, and hit his head on the steering wheel. "The Prince was planning on asking his Mammy out either way...just couldn't find a reason to…"

Mammon made a choking sound. "Well, I must say that you have to find a different reason to ask me out on a date."

Bel groaned even louder. "It was a try."

"A crappy try." Mammon told him. "I'll tell you when I feel like telling you, and you have to do my chores for a month." He snapped, rolling his lip ring around in his teeth.

"The Prince will take what he can get in this situation." He told his friend.

"You don't think that I'm a freak for this?" Mammon asked curiously.

Bel shook his head. "I don't think that I'm in the position to judge anyone. Besides, it is your own life not mine. If I did have a problem with any of this it wouldn't change who you are."

Because of the hood covering most of Mammon's face, Bel couldn't pick up on his expression, but the older man did seem to relax more.

"Luce said that we have to meet her, Skull and Verde at our new neighbors house for lunch." Mammon said as they pulled into the Varia's garage to drop off Socks and all of her new belongings.

Bel nodded, pleased that he seemed to have won over some respect from the Arcobaleno.

* * *

 **If I got anything wrong about Gender Fluidity please tell me. It would very much help me, and if any of you want to know where I got any of my information on it I can send you links to where I read things about it and am really willing to be taught anything that you all feel that I need to know on the subject.**

 **I hope that you all enjoy how this reboot is going so far.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Woot, look at me posting a chapter on a weekday. Don't think that's happened yet.**

 **I still don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**

* * *

Luce loved to cook, no matter the occasion she just loved cooking. Which is why she had talked Colonnello into letting her cook lunch for all of them...with the stipulation that she let him help her, because he would feel terrible if she cooked all of them lunch in his own house without assistance. Luce wasn't sure how to tell the man that he was absolutely terrible in the kitchen. She wondered how Lal would have told him to get out of the kitchen, and then figured that it would be a lot more polite to just let him do little things like get her things…

"Thank you for letting us stay over for lunch." Skull said as he set the table for them. It was the least that he could do since his cooking skills were less than perfect. He was usually the one that made salads at dinner because it was harder to mess up.

Colonnello wasn't sure how to tell them that they didn't have to do any of this, all he had done was say that they could have lunch over at his house as a thank you for inviting him over for not only breakfast but dinner. He had lived in an apartment for years, and hadn't even been on a first name basis with his neighbors, but he was pretty sure that this wasn't a normal neighbor thing to do. "It really isn't a big deal, kora."

"Mammon and her blond boy are on their way." Verde said from his seat at the bar, a glass of water in hand. The man had come over to the house at the request of Luce after he returned from putting all of their groceries away, with the help of Skull.

"Is our little Mammon finally bringing a boy home? I'm so proud of her!" Luce said happily, cutting a plate of sandwiches in half and putting them on a large platter that Colonnello wasn't aware he even had. "Colonnello, where is your coffee pot?" She asked, looking around the still rather empty looking kitchen.

Colonnello made a face and had to think about where he actually put the coffee maker. It was in one of the boxes lying around the kitchen but there were so many of them still unopened that he couldn't pick out which one had what. This is what he needed Lal and Fon for; they organized things for him in ways that he would never think of. "Umm, you see kora, I actually don't have any idea where it is."

The three of them gave him a look that said they couldn't believe he wasn't aware of a thing like that. He couldn't blame them.

"Do you have a kettle?" Luce asked, willing to make tea with their lunch instead of fresh coffee like she wanted. Besides, tea was better for the baby than coffee so it was probably for the best that they made tea.

Colonnello gave them a blank look. Did he even have a kettle? He wasn't sure. He should know what he owned at this point in life, but he was coming to a blank. He wasn't even aware that he owned a fancy skillet until Luce pulled one out of a box. Who even helped him pack? He was pretty sure it was some of the guys from the military. "I'm not sure, kora."

Luce could not believe that this was a man that had gone through childhood with her boyfriend, Fon, and Lal Mirch. She especially couldn't believe that this was a man that could go through Lal Mirch's training camps and still lived. He was nice, but he was so stupid that she wondered how any of her guardians actually managed to grow up with him. "That's fine dear, we have one at home. We'll send Mammon for it when she gets here." She said politely, smiling at him. She made it her personal mission to make sure that this boy got his home in order by the end of the month and had some proper organization skills.

"How did the others manage to keep you alive growing up?" Verde asked the blond man curiously. He was curious to find out just how he fit in with the other three when he didn't even know if he owned a kettle or know where he put anything in his own home.

Colonnello groaned and hit his head on the counter in front of him. "It wasn't easy, kora." He said, wondering just how much he was allowed to tell the others about their childhood. Reborn had told him that he wasn't allowed to tell them big things, but surely he was allowed to let little things slip. He wasn't even sure why he had to keep things under lock and key. It wasn't like they had a terrible childhood, it was just that the three of them liked to be more secretive than he did. "I imagine, kora, that you lot understand how difficult they could be on the best of days." He could vividly remember when they were children and they would all get into a giant fight over something trivial and Lal's mother would have to physically break them apart and give them long talks about why fighting with each other wasn't a nice thing to do.

The three Arcobaleno were silent, remembering all the times that their roommates would clash with one another or someone else over things, and with each other.

"Fon is easy to deal with, the other two are just bastards." Verde said for Luce and Skull, not afraid of what they would do to him if they found out he had called them bastards.

"Now Verde, I wouldn't go that far. They're both just very stubborn individuals who are very passionate about what it is they do and believe in." Luce said carefully, choosing her words just so as to not offend them even when they weren't there. She loved her guardians and wasn't fond of trash talking any of them.

A laugh sounded from the threshold of the kitchen causing everyone to turn their heads to see Mammon leaning against the door frame, a tall blond boy hovering behind her. "That's just a nice way to say that they're both assholes. Which they are." She said, all but floating to the bar to sit next to Verde, her blond boy following her lazily.

Colonnello gave her a strange look. "I thought you and Lal were 'platonic soulmates', kora." He said, raising a brow at the indigo haired woman. He wasn't going to say anything about how she just walked into his home without telling anyone that she was there, but he figured that it was something that he was just going to have to get used to while living across the street from them.

"I am, but that doesn't mean I can't point out when she is an asshole, just like she points out when I'm being a greedy bitch." Mammon said with a shrug. "And yes, she does remind me every day that I'm greedy, don't you give me that look Verde."

Verde held his hands up in defense. "Are you going to introduce us to your blond boy?" He asked.

"Shishishi, you've met me plenty of times peasant. Is that the fresh meat, Mammon told me about?" Belphegor asked, jerking his head in Colonnello's direction.

Colonnello had been called a lot of things in his lifetime, but somehow fresh meat was the most offensive one every time. "You would think, kora, that I would be used to being called that after the military but it still hurts every time."

Bel made a face. "I forgot that you're a military brat as well."

"Mammon, dear, will you go get the kettle from the kitchen at our home? It seems that Colonnello has misplaced his." Luce said, breaking anything up before anything could start. When it looked like any of them were going to fight each other it was easier for Luce to just give one of them, or both of them, something to do to keep them busy.

Mammon looked like she was going to protest, but changed her mind and stood up from her bar stool. "Belphegor, stay here. I don't want you in my home." She said to her former Varia member when he too stood up.

Luce didn't know the Varia member well, but she could tell when he felt like he had been insulted and this was definitely one of those moments. "Mammon, why don't you show Belphegor around the house; I don't think he's ever been over."

"There's a reason none of the Varia have been to our house, and it's because I don't want any of them in the same place that I sleep and I have a good reason. He's staying here." Mammon said, pushing Bel back into his seat.

Colonnello wasn't unfamiliar with the Varia. He knew that they were dangerous, and for some reason he just couldn't believe that two of their core members was standing in his kitchen along with the Giglio Nero boss, who had insisted on making lunch for them. He was going to have a very long talk with his childhood friends when he got the chance. He wasn't even sure why he was still surprised that they were all involved with the mafia, but there was nothing he could really do about that except to hope that Lal wasn't with the CEDEF anymore, he wasn't even sure why the idea bothered him as much as it did! Lal Mirch was a responsible woman, and if the Mafia was something that she chose to be a part of as an adult he didn't think he could stop her.

"Mammon." Luce said warningly, smiling the whole time. She wasn't in the mood to argue with her Mist about this.

"Mama Luce, Mammon is already angry at the Prince. I don't think forcing this upon them will make it any better." Belphegor said in the most diplomatic voice he could manage. Even he could admit that the Giglio Nero boss was intimidating.

Luce's gaze shifted between the two of them. "I see." She said quietly. "Mammon, please go get the kettle."

"Don't touch anything that you aren't allowed to touch." Mammon said as a parting to Bel before she used her mist flame to make a more dramatic exit.

"She's always had a dramatic flair in her that I've always found admirable." Skull said, smiling fondly at the thought of the younger woman's flair for dramatics. He was considering asking her to do a show with him, but the chances of that happening and him keeping any of the revenue was very short.

Colonnello laughed. "Is there anything I could get you to drink, kora?" He asked Bel.

"The Prince wants a glass of milk." Bel told him, and then as an afterthought asked. "Why do you say kora?" He asked.

"When we were children, Lal Mirch kicked me in the head a little too hard and I've been saying it ever since, kora." Colonnello said, reaching for a glass. "She'll swear up and down that she did no such thing but Fon and Reborn will vouch for me."

The Arcobaleno didn't say anything, just letting themselves process what was said. In all honesty they could believe it. As a collective group, all of them laughed. Luce felt a wave of pride knowing that she was laughing at the same thing that her fellow guardians were laughing at.

"You think she's violent now kora, you should have seen her when we were kids and didn't know how to control her anger." Colonnello laughed. He handed Bel his glass of milk and leaned on the opposite side of the bar. "Can I be honest with you lot?"

"You could tell us anything, that's what neighbors do." Verde said when all he really wanted was information.

"I bought this place thinking that it would impress Lal Mirch, and I wasn't even aware that she lived across the street but it just makes it even better...except for her throwing a cup at my face, kora." He said, running a hand through his hair. "It's nearly impossible to impress that horrid bitch."

Skull, Verde, and Bel burst out laughing while Luce stared at him, eyes wide and expression certainly shocked.

"That...that is an interesting thing to say about the woman that you are in love with?" Luce wasn't even sure what their relationship was at this point if this was how they treated one another. Maybe they were just in a love-hate relationship, maybe it was just a one-sided love story and Lal Mirch really did hate the blond man? Sh was going to find out if it killed her.

"Don't get me wrong, kora, I love her. I've been in love with her for at least twenty years, but this woman is a horrid bitch and I will fight her. Legitimately fight her." Colonnello said. "I ask her to marry me, and she breaks my arm. I get placed into her special forces program without knowing that she was even in charge of it and she nearly kills me multiple times! I've literally grown up with her and she still confuses me!"

"That's rough buddy." Bel said quietly. He thought that he was having problems with Mammy, but this guy had been trying for twenty something years and only got hurt in return!

"I'm sure she just doesn't know how to process the things that you say and do. If I'm correct Lal Mirch has never had a significant other that wasn't a one night stand...not that those are common for her or anything." Luce said quickly. It was true that Lal had one night stand's, but all of them did. They were a non judgemental family when it came to situations like that. "She probably just doesn't know how to be in an actual relationship…"

Colonnello looked anything but amused at that knowledge. "Well...she is a grown woman, kora." He said, giving Mammon a strained smile when she returned with the kettle and what looked like a container of tea leaves.

"I grabbed the strawberry tea in case he didn't have any tea." Mammon said casually. "I expect at least twenty dollars in my bank account for all of this Luce."

"I'll add it to my tab darling." Luce said, taking the items from the woman so that she could get them started. At this point she figured that her tab was already huge, and gave up even caring that the woman was being excessively greedy.

"Why don't you take your hood off, kora, it must be stuffy under there." Colonnello said, noticing that the woman hadn't taken off her cloak the entire time.

The room was silent for a moment, and Colonnello was beginning to wonder what he had done wrong before Mammon sighed and slipped the cloak off.

"I'm not fond of taking it off when I'm not home, but today is a day of truths it seems." Mammon said quietly. "But this will cost you soldier, I'm not comfortable with this."

Colonnello made a confused sound. "It's going to cost me, kora?" He asked.

"Yes, one-hundred dollars at most. Maybe two if I find you to be an annoying lunch-mate." Mammon said, looking at him cooly with her big topaz eyes. Colonnello had to admit that she was a very striking young woman.

Bel gasped slightly, surprised that he was getting to see Mammon without a hood on. He had thought of what her eyes would look like more often than he cared to admit, but for some reason large, topaz eyes that looked like liquid gold wasn't what he was expecting. "Well, the Prince must say that he is impressed. Mammon has exquisite eyes."

Mammon blushed, causing Luce to grin and give her a look that was close to hope. Hope for what, Colonnello really wasn't sure.

A phone went off, disrupting their sole quiet moment in the house.

"It's yours." Verde said, handing Luce her cell phone. He wasn't really sure why he was in charge of phones when everyone else was doing something else, but he was kind of just going with whatever was happening.

Luce politely excused herself and went to take the call in the other room.

"I hope it's someone calling to tell her that Reborn is dead." Mammon said, picking up a sandwich and taking a bite from it. "Don't give me that look, he's a bastard."

"Luce would be heartbroken if Reborn died!" Skull said. "I mean, he has his moments when he is a bastard but he has moments when he is a nice big brother and Fon would be upset if he died."

"It was Fon on the phone, so I doubt that it has anything to do with Reborn. I heard him talking about having to go to Spain for the day and it is a Tuesday, which means that Fon has individual classes today." Verde explained. As much as he would love for Reborn's ass to be dead in a ditch somewhere he doubted that was the case.

"Who wants to make a bet?" Mammon asked, a wicked grin on her face.

"None of us are stupid enough to start another betting pool with you, Mammon." Verde said. He was still angry that he had lost fifty dollars to her the last time that they bet on anything.

Mammon smirked, she would get them to participate in another bet soon enough. She just had to find something that caught all of their interests. With these assholes it shouldn't even be that hard for her.

"It was Fon; nothing bad, just giving me some heads up about about we all eat?" Luce asked, picking up the platter of sandwiches. She politely ignored the fact that her Mist had already began to eat.

To everyone's surprise they were at Colonnello's house for another hour; talking about everything under the sun until Verde brought up that they should be heading home. Luce didn't want to go, she was having so much fun getting to know Colonnello!

"I can't wait to have you over for dinner!" Luce said, giving the man a brief hug as they left. She flashed him, her best smile and linked arms with Skull while Mammon saw Bel off to the Varia.

Colonnello gave her a charming smile. "If there's anything you need kora, don't hesitate to let me know so I can bring it over."

"Well I just went shopping, and I have the kettle so I doubt we're going to need anything." Verde said, not understanding that the words were said more out of kindness than anything. He really did need to go out more.

Luce took that as their cue to leave. "Thank you Colonnello." She said, tugging her guardians out of the house gently.

"What did Fon say?" Viper asked when they were across the street.

"We're going to be having a guest for a bit of time; which means that you are all on your best behavior until they leave." Luce said, slipping into her diplomatic mode. Guests were a serious thing in their home, they didn't have them often and when they did they were kept close eyes on.

"Who is it?" Verde asked, curious now. If Fon was the one having a guest over then something must be wrong, the man never had anyone over for the sheer fact that all of his 'friends' had their shit together and never needed a place to stay in any situation.

"Kyoya Hibari." Luce said with a sigh.


	6. Chapter 6

**Please excuse anything that sounds weird. I find that I can only actually write stuff if I'm exhausted beyond belief...**

 **I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**

* * *

Fon had a rule about his students: they had to be young or it just wasn't easy to teach them anything. Young students were smart, they thought of things that not even he would have thought of, and they were willing to try things out.

The only problem was that they liked to give him sass. Not all of them, but enough of them did it so much that he felt like he was getting old all over again.

It was a Tuesday, which meant that he had private classes all day, which meant that he got to see his nephew Kyoya and his sister.

Fon was greeted by the two with a loving hug from his sister, Mei, and a polite nod from Kyoya.

"I hate to ask this of you," his sister began. "But I must ask you to take care of Kyoya for a bit of time. I'm going to have to go away, and it isn't a place that I can bring the little one too."

Fon wouldn't have a problem with taking care of his nephew for as long as necessary...he just wasn't sure how his roommates would react to a seven year old boy suddenly living with them. They were prepared for a little girl, not a little boy who had quite an attitude sometimes.

"I'm sure that my roommates wouldn't mind having a little one around. How about I go put your things in my office, Kyoya." Fon said, careful not to set off the seven year old. He was never really sure what would set off the child's mean streak.

Mei gave him a grateful smile and handed him, Kyoya's bags. "Thank you so much, big brother." She gave him a kiss on the cheek, and knelt down so that she was at eye-level with her son.

Fon left to give the two of them some space. He figured that the two of them needed some private space before Mei left for an indefinite amount of time. He was gonna have to cancel his other appointments for the day, and call Luce. Yes, he was definitely going to have to call Luce about this. When he got back, Mei was leaving and Kyoya was already doing their usual warm ups.

"Where are we going?" Kyoya asked two hours later, when the two of them were on their way back to the Arcobaleno house.

Fon couldn't remember the last time Kyoya had been to his home. He was sure that the last time Kyoya had been to the house was two years ago when Mei and Viper had gotten into a rather lengthy argument at their Christmas party. Maybe it was longer than that…

"You're going to be staying with me and my roommates for a while. They're all very polite when you get to know them, Kyoya." Fon said, which was a lie because all of his roommates were batshit crazy in their own way. He should probably just try a more blunt approach. "Listen, Kyoya, I know that you're not going to like any of them at all for at least a month but we're just going to pray that your Mama isn't gone for a month. As long as you don't get into anyone's way and don't let them get in your way everything should be fine. Just don't mention your mother in front of Mammon and try to be polite when you tell Luce that you aren't a fan of sweet things." He tried to go over all of the things in the house that would make any of the other Arcobaleno angry, but all of them were rather lenient when it came to children.

Kyoya gave him a look that said that Fon was stupid.

Fon sighed and tugged Kyoya in the direction of their neighborhood. "Things are going to be hectic, little one." He told his nephew.

"Is the short man going to force me to give him money again?" Kyoya asked curiously.

Fon stopped dead. He was sure that he didn't hear what he thought he heard. "Kyoya, has Mammon ever asked you for money?" He asked.

Kyoya nodded, which just caused Fon to sigh. Of course she had gotten to Kyoya.

"If Mammon asks you for money again, come to me." He told the seven year old, exasperated with his roommate. Surely she would know better than to take money from a small child...but no, apparently Mammon had no morals.

Kyoya gave him a funny look. "Why would I go to you? I can handle the short man on my own." He said, as if he had been putting up with Mammon his whole life.

"You see, Mammon is a very difficult person to deal with and I don't want you to become one of their victims. If you let them continue to take money from you than it isn't going to end nicely for you." Fon said, unaware of how to properly describe Mammon to his nephew. Of course he had visited for holidays, but he never stayed more than a few hours in the Arcobaleno house at one time…

"I never give the short man money. I tell him to come back another time because I don't have any." Kyoya said, looking at Fon as if he should be aware of this already. "And I've already told the cookie woman that I would eat her cookies."

Fon was unaware of all of this. "Since when did you eat cookies? I've offered you plenty of cookies and you never took them."

"You never ask me what I think of the people that you live with, so I never told you...and I like her sugar cookies." Kyoya said, adjusting the strap on his backpack as they climbed the steps that would lead them to the doors of the estate.

Luce, Mammon, Verde and Skull were already home getting things ready for dinner that night when they got inside, which Fon was thankful for because he wasn't sure how to do this otherwise.

"Kyoya! Oh look at how much you've grown! I've already got a batch of sugar cookies in the oven for you, darling." Luce exclaimed, swooping in to pick the little boy up in a hug.

Fon braced himself for the attack he knew was coming from the little one, but i never happened. Kyoya was simply letting the woman hug him.

"Your stomach is significantly larger than it was the last time I saw you." Kyoya said when he was put down.

Luce laughed, a loud joyus thing, and bent to so that she was face to face with the little one. "I'm going to have a baby, Kyoya! A little girl that we plan on naming Aria. Doesn't that sound lovely?" She asked.

Kyoya thought about it. "Aria is a nice name." He said finally.

Luce smiled brightly at the boy. "I'm glad you think so." She said happily. A happy Luce was always a good Luce. "Fon, there's an empty room next to yours is you want to put him in there." She said to Fon.

They usually put guests up in the first floor, so that they didn't go wandering around looking for things that they shouldn't be looking for, while the rest of them slept on the second floor, and above them on the third floor was where they all had offices, and where they put their library. Fon figured that putting Kyoya on the second floor with them was the best idea.

Kyoya walked quietly with Fon up the stairs and let him point out whose bedroom was whose and listened to all of his warnings about which rooms to not go in, for his own good. Viper had some shady rooms that none of them really wanted to know about, and it was best to let Kyoya be aware of it.

"I know it isn't much, but we can get you whatever you want to make this room feel like home to you." Fon said, opening the door next to his. All of the guest rooms had the same basic layout; bed, dresser, desk, TV, and an ensuite bathroom. Luce had painted all of the spare rooms a nice cream color that Fon was pretty sure wouldn't drive Kyoya crazy. He was almost sure that the young boy wouldn't be able to stand the yellow that they painted Aria's room.

Aria's bedroom was an ongoing war zone. Someone was always changing the design. One day it was sky themed, and then the next week it would sun themed. All of them have changed the room at least once by now, and every time they did so Luce had some sort of fit, saying that her baby will not be staying in a lab themed room or something along those lines until she managed to change it back to the beautiful sky themed room that she had picked out...and then someone else would come along and change it.

Kyoya looked around his own bedroom with an attentive glance, as if he were already planning what he was going to change and what would stay the same. "Can we have hamburger steaks for dinner?" He asked.

Fon laughed. "No, not tonight. We're having a neighbor over for dinner tonight, I actually grew up with him...maybe tomorrow?"

Kyoya nodded, and started to unpack his things neatly. Fon couldn't help but think that the others were going to appreciate how well organized the boy was for a seven year old. "Mother made a schedule for what I usually do for you." Kyoya said suddenly, holding out a piece of paper.

Fon was glad that his baby sister had thought of everything, but wished that she didn't have to have thought of everything in this sort of situation. He told her that getting involved in the things that he did wouldn't be safe for her or her child, and look where they were now. "Thank you, Kyoya. I'll be sure to tell the others."

Kyoya only made a small grunting sound, and Fon took it as his cue to leave the room and let the little one have some space. It must have been hard for him to go from living with his mother to being randomly dropped off with his uncle for an undecided amount of time.

* * *

"Lal Mirch, who is that small child and what is he doing in my house?" Luce asked Lal the instant she got home and noticed that she had a small child with her that wasn't Basil.

Lal threw her car keys in the bowl that they used for keys and took her hair out of the braid that Basil had put it in earlier that day. "His name is Tsunayoshi, and he's in our custody as of today." Lal said simply, looking down at Tsunayoshi cooly.

"Lal Mirch, is that the same Tsunayoshi that is going to be the Tenth Vongola? Did you STEAL THE TENTH VONGOLA BOSS?" Reborn asked, raising to his feet when he got a good look at the five year old boy...who was now hiding behind Lal's legs.

Lal rolled her eyes and put a hand on the total fluff that was Tsunayoshi's hair. "I didn't steal him from anyone. It was decided at our meeting today that Tsunayoshi would be raised in the custody of the Arcobaleno so that he has the right kind of upbringing...besides, Iemitsu isn't a capable parent and neither is his wife. I agreed to take him in for his benefit more than ours." Lal said, kicking off her dress shoes.

Luce wasn't sure what was happening in her household today; it was like everything was changing all at once. "So what you're telling me is that we're going to be raising not only Fon's nephew and Aria, but now we have the Vongola's Tenth under our roof?"

Lal made a face. "Why is Kyoya in the house? I want to see my nephew." She said, sounding outraged that she wasn't informed of any of this. Fon was practically her brother, and if Kyoya was in their house she was damn sure gonna see him, he was her nephew as well at this point.

"Mei dropped him off with Fon at his class today saying that she was going to be gone for a long period of time and asked if we could watch him." Luce groaned and ran a hand through her hair. "There are going to be so many little ones in the house."

Tsunayoshi made a noise and tried to hide further behind Lal's legs. "Ms. Lal, who are these people?" He asked in a timid voice.

Luce melted. She didn't want to admit that she melted, but as soon as she heard that cute little voice she knew that she was a goner. "I'm Mama Luce, and what can I call you?" She cooed, trying to get the little one out of his hiding spot.

Tsunayoshi didn't budge from his spot behind Lal, and gripped her pant leg even tighter.

Lal sighed and picked the little boy up, putting him on her hip like Luce often saw her do with Basil when he stayed over. "Tsuna, say hello to Mama Luce. She's a sweet woman." She told the little boy, using the same tone that she used with Basil. The only voice Lal had with children was one that could be described as stern, but kind.

Reborn looked at Lal in wonder. "Are you the same woman who tried to drown me in a pool when we were ten?" He asked. "Because the Lal I know wouldn't just take in a child that had no relation to her and agree to raise it."

Lal scoffed and rubbed Tsuna's head affectionately. "I raised you, and you turned out okay enough."

"You raised three boys already, Mirch, you sure you want to make it four?" Reborn asked, eyeing the future Decimo. It was a well known fact that Reborn was a great teacher to kids in their early to late teens, but God only knew what he could do with a child from the age of five onward.

"You say that as if she wasn't raising herself as well, kora." Colonnello said, leaning against the front door.

Lal made an annoyed sound in the back of her throat and held Tsuna closer to her. "There is a thing called knocking when you enter somebody else's home, you twat...Tsunayoshi, never repeat anything that I call this man. If you do I'm going to make you run five miles." Lal said, looking at the little one with a serious look in her eye.

Tsunayoshi didn't doubt the woman at all, so he nodded. "Is he a bad guy?" He asked her, his big brown eyes getting even wider at the thought of Colonnello being a villain like in the shows his dad had sown him.

Colonnello said "No," the same time that Lal said "Yes," and the two glared at each other for a short amount of time before Tsuna pulled at Lal's coat.

"Can I meet everyone else?" He asked curiously. "I want to meet everyone else." He said.

Lal blinked. Out of all of the times that she's met the small child she had never seen him say that he wanted anything. All he ever did was sit in the corner and play with Basil whenever Iemitsu brought him along. "How about we get you cleaned up for dinner and then we can introduce you to the others." Lal said, walking towards the bathroom with the little one still on her hip. That way he got all cleaned up for their meal like Lal wanted, and then Tsuna got what he wanted. If she puts it into his head early on that if he does what she wants him to and he gets what he wants after that is all settled than it was going to be easy to raise the child.

"Why did Lal have a small child, kora?" Colonnello asked, coming into the house and closing the door quietly. He knew from experience that if he slammed doors shut there would be major consequences and he was having a good day.

"He's the Tenth Vongola...or well, he's planned to be the next Vongola. He was placed in our custody...well, Lal's technically." Reborn said, leading their way back into their kitchen. If Colonnello was gonna live across the street from them and be over often he was just going to have to deal with the Mafia all over again.

"I take it, kora, that she's still working with the CEDEF." Colonnello said. It was the only logical reason as to why the Vongola Decimo would be placed in a woman of the military's hands. He wanted to say that he was surprised that Lal wasn't completely faithful to the military, but the woman had a wild streak that he supposed the military couldn't quite satisfy anymore.

"She likes what she does there. She's quite good at it as well." Luce said pleasantly. "She's what Americans would call a 'Risk Manager', and it gives her a lot of structure in her life."

Reborn smiled at his girlfriend. "She says that because her family has a strange psychic power running through their veins. It's apparently why her family only has girls."

"You say that like you don't love her anyway." Fon said from the stove, where he was stewing a pot of soup. "Do any of you care to explain to me why Lal just walked past with a five year old saying that she was going to find her nephew and make him obey her?"

"We've adopted the future Decimo, and apparently she really wants to see Kyoya." Reborn said, rolling his eyes. Of all the children that Lal Mirch could have brought home he still couldn't believe that she brought home the future Decimo. He was already scheduled to be his tutor in eight years, but if he was living under his own roof at an early age that worked just fine for Reborn.

"Who is Kyoya, kora?" Colonnello asked, sitting down at the seat he had sat at earlier that day.

At this point in life, Fon wasn't surprised that Lal had come home with the future Decimo claiming that they had adopted him. Weirder things have happened in this home, nothing truly phased him anymore. "Mei's seven year old son." Fon said, watching curiously for his friends reaction.

It didn't disappoint. Colonnello looked like someone smacked him, and Fon supposed that it did happen a lot to the blond man. Working with Lal Mirch was dangerous after all.

"Why didn't someone tell me, kora?" Colonnello sounded hurt by the fact that none of his friends had bothered to tell him. Sure they had all been separated for eight years, but Lal worked with him, he couldn't believe that she couldn't just casually mention living with the others or just mention something about the others.

Fon shrugged. "Well, you know how Lal Mirch and Reborn are. Always so secretive about anything that involves their private lives." He said quietly. Maybe they should have contacted Colonnello after he got drafted...but they hadn't been in contact with Lal when she was drafted either...of course Lal was also less sentimental than Colonnello was and didn't often care about things like keeping close contact with anyone for any reason...they had a lot of catching up to do...

"Her husband died a few years ago, but she hasn't been around this house for a few years because her and Mammon," He gave the younger girl a pointed glare. "got into a real big fight...but the others always enjoyed having Kyoya over."

Verde snorted from the table. "You say that, but that brat is evil I swear to god."

"What has Kyoya ever done to you?" Luce asked, offended for the young boy. "Kyoya, is a blessing. Such a sweet child, very polite!"

"He yelled at me, for 'crowding' in the sitting room last time he was over!" Verde shouted, "In my own home!"

Fon laughed. It did sound like something that Kyoya would do. "He's a good kid."

"With aunts and uncles like us of course he's a good kid!" Skull exclaimed. He was always so happy when they had little ones over, mainly because they still thought that his stunts were cool. The others were all used to them by now, but still tried to show that they cared.

"And Tsunayoshi is going to be an interesting addition, from what I heard couldn't even hurt a butterfly." Mammon said, picking at the salad that she was assigned to be tossing...she was eating more of it than she was tossing it, but they should have seen this one coming from a mile away. Mammon had heard gossip through the Varia and the CEDEF that the Young Lion of the Vongola's son was a big softie.

"I don't doubt that in this household he will flourish beautifully. But we have to agree that these children will have a say in if they want to go into the same business as us. We can't force our lifestyle's onto them." Luce said calmly, rubbing her ever growing belly. "They might grow up and decide that they want to be lawyers and if that happens we're going to accept that."

Luce was met with blank stares and raised eyebrows. She couldn't possibly expect them to be raising children and not involve them in the Mafia? They were the Arcobaleno, the most dangerous people in the literal world; they wouldn't put it past Kyoya already knowing everything. He was a smart child.

"That child is becoming Decimo. The CEDEF and Nono agreed." Reborn said calmly. "The reason he's here is so that we train him to be the best!"

"Also the fact that his parents are completely incompetent, but he does have a point Luce; he's here for a reason and Kyoya here already knows everything that Mei told him. Plus, you already made it official that Aria will be your heir what are you going to do when you raise a child her whole life to take your place and she decides that she doesn't want the title?" Lal Mirch asked coming into the kitchen with the two little ones in tow. She had changed into a casual pair of shorts and a tank top, and had managed to get Tsuna and Kyoya both cleaned up.

Luce sighed. She didn't think that her idea would fly over well with the others, but it was always good to have an idea out in the open, especially in their house. "I agree that it would be difficult to keep them out of it, but nothing too extreme until they're thirteen at least." Luce said, giving her guardians a look. "And I'm allowed to dress little Tsuna up in outfits that will correspond with Aria's." She wouldn't dare try anything like that with Kyoya, the older boy had already shown his disliking of the outfits that Luce often tried to get him into during his visits. They had no other choice but to agree to those terms, she thought proudly.

"Are you okay with that Tsuna?" Lal asked, looking down at the five year old to her right. They were huge on consent in this family, and Tsuna was technically old enough to protest about the clothes that they put him in.

Tsuna shifted uncomfortably under all of their gazes, as if he weren't okay with having anyone looking at him. They were definitely going to have to work on that. "I'm okay with anything that Mama Luce decides."

Lal nodded and picked the boy up again. "Now, since you were good and did what I asked I'm gonna introduce you to everyone like I said I would. You already know Mama Luce and I, but that is Fon, and that is Skull, Verde, Viper, Reborn, Kyoya, and that blond idiot is Colonnello, but he doesn't live here so he isn't as important. Okay?" She asked, to which the young boy nodded and requested to be put down. Lal plopped down in her usual seat and brought the boy into her lap. He didn't seem to protest so she figured that it was fine even though there were still empty seats at their table.

Kyoya looked bored already and went to go sit down beside Skull, who he didn't want to admit was his favorite 'uncle' simply because he had a motorcycle that Fon wouldn't let him near. "Why is Mammon eating the salad out of the bowl?" He asked, giving the Mist a curious glance.

"Because Mammon doesn't have self-restraint." Verde said flatly. "And I mean none at all."

"Says the person that literally spent over two grand on a telescope! A TELESCOPE VERDE. TWO GRAND ON A STUPID TELESCOPE." Mammon shouted at the top of her lungs, a much louder noise that any of them really expected to come out of the usually quiet Mist.

Tsuna looked startled, and Kyoya simply took the glass of water that was being offered to him by Fon.

"They do this often, I would get used to this now." Kyoya said calmly to the younger boy. He felt that the least he could do for the obviously confused boy was to explain things that seemed to be weirder than most.

"Welcome to the family, you all." Luce said, grinning broadly at the two young boys and sneaking a glance at Colonnello, who was busy arguing with Lal Mirch and Reborn about something. She couldn't help but be happy that her family was growing for the best of them all.

* * *

 **Yay, two chapters in a row guys! I have to say it's only because I'm going on a cruise on Friday and won't have internet until next Sunday at least. So I'm kind of trying to make up for that by posting two at once...I really hope that you guys like it. I know that they didn't have Tsuna in the first version, but I thought about my hatred for both of his parents and decided that it was probably for the best if they had him.**


	7. Chapter 7

**So, I know it looked like I wasn't going to ever update but I was just busy and kind of on a vacation and then busy with school crap that I still kind of haven't handled because I'm literally a lazy shit. Graduation is in 27 days, my work ethic is legit going down.**

 **As usual, I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**

* * *

In all of his years Verde had done a lot of things. He had won a Nobel Prize, he had taught at universities that only the elite could even be allowed to know the names of, he had created things that none other has ever attempted to do, done plenty of things that should have killed him...but what he hasn't done was babysit.

"What do you mean I have to babysit Tsuna? Why can't one of you bring him with you?" Verde asked. He was too tired for any of this and wasn't even sure how he was still alive at this point with how little sleep he's gotten the past week.

"All of us have too busy of days ahead of us, and we can't bring him with us." Luce said, running around the kitchen as she helped Fon pack Kyoya's school lunch. "I've got a meeting with a man to handle some human trafficking issues that has been going on and it really isn't the best place to have a little one around." She explained, with a tone that Verde knew meant she thought he knew better by now.

"I have a field mission, and it was part of my agreement with Iemitsu that the two of them never be in the same building without one of us." Lal said, not looking up from where she was checking Kyoya's English homework. Viper had the Maths homework.

"He's too delicate to go to the Varia. I can't have a child running around the place or someone is bound to get their hands on him and Lussuria is fond of small children." Viper said, checking off two problems with a red marker. He was oddly disappointed in how terrible the boy was when it came to numbers. He had tried his best to get the boy to understand but there were some things he just wasn't grasping...maybe they needed to get the boy an actual tutor...preferably one that was free.

"I've got a diplomatic meeting with Nono and Xanxus, no children." Reborn said, turning a page in the local newspaper.

"I have shows today! I may be awesome but I can't keep a proper eye on little Tsuna if I'm jumping through hoops of fire!" Skull exclaimed. He was writing something on their wall, probably items for the next grocery shopping trip.

"Why can't Fon do it?" Verde asked, he hadn't heard the man give any reasons as to why he couldn't watch Tsuna for the day.

Fon placed a juice box in Kyoya's lunch. "I promised Colonnello that I would take him out for the day, to make up for us not being around the last few years. Unless Tsunayoshi wants to get into bar fights I believe I'm out."

Lal and Reborn rolled their eyes at their friend. They couldn't believe, but could at the same time, that Colonnello had talked Fon into spending a day with him.

"Just let him die in a hole, he's too much effort." Lal said, stabbing at the fruit that was left over on her plate lazily, a scowl on her face at the thought of their neighbor.

Fon and Luce sighed. After two weeks of Colonnello living across the street from them they still haven't heard Lal say one good thing about him. Reborn had given up after a week and only caused the man physical harm instead of insulting him and beating him like Lal did.

"Did any of you think that maybe I had plans for today as well?" Verde asked, feigning hurt.

His roommates, the kids included, gave him a look that said they knew he didn't have anything to do outside of the house.

"You sit downstairs in the basement all day doing science stuff that none of us really understand or care to learn about and drink extensive amounts of coffee. We're pretty sure that you can spare a few hours of that while Luce has her meeting." Viper said, rolling his eyes at the scientist.

"Why not ask Colonnello to watch him? You like Colonnello, don't you Tsunayoshi?" Verde asked. He wasn't going to admit that all he's been doing the past week was watch Netflix while he waited for his associates in Germany to get back to him on what they had found out about their project. He didn't even mind the kid, he's just never been alone with him for more than ten minutes at most.

Tsuna nodded happily at the mention of Colonnello watching him. It had taken a day or two for the boy to get used to everyone and the house itself, but now that he was settled he didn't hide the fact that he adored all of them equally, even Colonnello.

Fon sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm going out with him today Verde. We already went over this." He said, feeling that it was far too early to be exasperated with any of them...yet, here he was.

"Mother put me in a daycare before I started school." Kyoya said, speaking for the first time that morning other than to say good morning, and thank you to Luce.

"Viper looked into it, dear, said it was too much money." Luce said, patting him on the head affectionately.

Viper gave them all a look. "Which one of you wants to pay for a daycare? All of the good ones are too pricey, and I sure as hell don't want Tsuna playing with the other mafia kids until he starts school." He said in a tone that dared any of them to challenge him on this.

After having Tsuna in their custody for two days it was established that Iemitsu hadn't done anything to start to introduce his son into the underworld, not even the basics that all of them knew when they were Tsuna's age, so they spent a little over an hour every day showing the boy how to do small things...like how to properly hold a knife, or how to aim correctly at a target. They would keep him out of the public eye until he could hold his own against another mafia kid...so until he could go through a sparing match with Kyoya. It was proving pretty difficult seeing as the boy tripped over his own feet when someone wasn't holding his hand. They were hoping that the boy would improve significantly before his sixth birthday.

"What am I supposed to do with him until one of you gets home?" Verde asked, looking at the boy in disdain.

"Park, I want to go to the park!" Tsuna said excitedly, looking at Verde with his large doe eyes.

"If he falls out of the swings more than twice take him home." Viper said over the rim of his strawberry milk.

Tsuna looked like he wanted to protest, but he had fallen out of the swing set at least three times the last time Viper and Lal took him and Kyoya to the park down the street and they all knew it so it was best that he didn't try and protest…

"That means I have to go outside, and talk to people outside of this house. You're making me socialize with pedestrians." Verde said, giving his boss a look that said he wasn't going to let her live this down. Ever. "Why can't I just build the kids a playroom?" He asked.

The room was quiet, as if none of them had thought of that option before.

"What would you put in this room?" Kyoya questioned, raising an eyebrow curiously.

"Shit, I don't know? Toys? A swing set?" Verde wasn't even sure what the two kids that inhabited his house did when they weren't having a meal together, which is actually the only time he saw the kids . "I could make you an entire playground better than the one down the street."

"What room in our house is big enough for a swing set?" Skull asked, genuinely curious about that. He wasn't aware of what room was big enough for something like that.

"There's a room next to the training room that isn't being used." Lal pointed out. "Half of this house isn't being used. Why do we live in a house with like sixty plus rooms if we only use like twenty of them?"

"What kind of a family needs twenty rooms?" Reborn asked in return.

"We're a family?" Kyoya asked, surprised.

As a collective unit the Arcobaleno gave Kyoya a look of betrayal.

"You're such a brat, Kyoya." Viper said under his breath, shaking his head in disappointment.

"How about you and Tsuna spend the day on that play room? That sounds like the safest thing to do while all of us are out. As long as you don't program anything to do something dangerous I give you full range to do whatever you please...as long as Tsunayoshi agrees." Luce said to Verde. This way Tsuna was kept occupied for the day, and Verde got to build crap to his heart's content.

Verde and Tsuna looked at each other, and then at Luce, and then back to one another again, and high five each other. It was the first time Verde remembers high fiving anyone and he still wasn't entirely sure what caused him to do it.

"Why is this our lives now? Do I get to blame Colonnello for this? I really want to blame all of my life problems on Colonnello." Lal said, looking like she was going to stab something sometime soon. It's been ages since she got to beat the crap out of something and she was really quite looking forward to this mission.

"You blame Colonnello for all of your problems, plus you were the one who brought Tsuna home so that's your fault." Fon reminded her, a knowing look on his face.

"She has a good enough excuse to blame him for all of her life problems from what I've heard." Viper said. He had moved on from checking Kyoya's homework and had started to go over all of the finances for the Varia. Usually Squalo did it and didn't let him see it until last minute but he was adamant about making sure that the Arcobaleno and the Varia be as perfectly financed as possible.

"Oh sweetie, don't blame him for everything he's too pretty." Luce said gently, putting a hand on Lal's arm. "And he's got really nice biceps."

"You should see him shirtless, it's really quite beautiful." Reborn said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Viper snorted into his milk. "Are you into blond soldier boys?" He asked curiously.

"As a man who is secure in his manhood, and his sexual orientation I can say that the military has done some nice things to the human body. Look at Lal's eight pack for example." Reborn said, leaning over and lifting Lal's tank top enough to show off that the woman did indeed have an eight pack.

Lal swatted his hands away while Viper let out a low whistle, Verde and Skull at least tried to act like they weren't staring.

"I always enjoy looking at you, kora." Colonnello said, leaning against the doorframe of their kitchen. He had been coming into the house for a week now without knocking so none of them were surprised to see him.

"I'm literally going to sacrifice you to Satan for a corn chip." Lal said, adjusting her shirt so that it was where she liked it to be. "Why are you even here?" She asked.

"I'm driving Fon and I around, kora. And I need to speak to you about something." Colonnello said, motioning with his head that the two should go to a different room.

Lal gave him a curious look. "Is this about work?" She asked, still seated.

Colonnello shook his head. "It's about that one thing, kora." He said with a look that empathized that this conversation needed to happen in private.

It took Lal a moment or two before her eyes widened and she stood up. "I completely forgot." She said quietly, an almost embarrassed look on her face as she dragged Colonnello into the opposite hallway, where their gym was.

"What the hell just happened?" Viper asked, confused as to what just happened with his best friend and her blond boy, as they liked to call him.

"Maybe he's asking her out! Oh, you know how much I think those two belong together!" Luce said happily. After watching the two of them for two weeks she could definitely see some sort of chemistry between them.

"it's probably about work, you know how Lal Mirch is; all business and no personal life." Skull said, he remembered a time before Luce got pregnant when they all went out drinking and Lal had spent the whole evening going over reports for both the military and the CEDEF.

"it's got to be more personal than work, you saw her face." Reborn said, thinking back to anything that would have the two going off in private. And then it clicked. "Viper, did Lal ever say if she said no?" He asked, turning to the younger man curiously.

"Said no to what?" Fon asked.

"She said Colonnello proposed, but she never said that she said no." Reborn said, a sly smirk on his face.

"Well, it's assumed that she said no. She broke his arm!" Skull exclaimed.

Fon shook his head, his braid swishing behind him. "You can't just assume something with these two; their relationship is way too complicated." He said, sitting down in Lal's now empty seat. "Knowing Lal Mirch she mostly likely broke his arm and when he was in the infirmary told him that she would marry him."

"But you all said they didn't have that kind of relationship!" Luce was going to be mad if they had lied to her about

"They don't, officially. But Lal isn't that good with showing emotions when it comes to Colonnello. We thought that by now you guys would notice." Reborn said. "It's just slightly illegal for them to be together so they aren't."

"But if the military wasn't involved," Luce prompted. The military, she found, was a lot of reasons why Lal did and didn't do a lot of things.

"They definitely would have been married by now." Fon said, collecting all of Kyoya's homework from Viper. "It's all just a matter of convincing Lal Mirch that they wouldn't be kicked out of the military actually."

"Who wants to make a bet?" Viper asked, seeing his chance to make a few bucks. He had been looking for a new betting pool, and he was sure that Lal Mirch wouldn't care if it were about her love life or not. Besides, the Arcobaleno were always up for a betting pool when it could catch their interests for long enough. Usually they bet about TV drama's that they all had a common interest in. When Luce first told them she was pregnant they had a betting pool about the gender until it was confirmed that it would be a baby girl...of course, Luce had predicted it would be a girl from the start.

"One hundred dollars says that they're already engaged." Reborn said confidentially. If he knew his friends than his suspicion was right. It wasn't too hard to figure the two out if you knew them well enough.

Fon, guessing the same thing that Reborn had, seconded Reborn's bet. "I know it's hard to believe, but Reborn has a point. Lal Mirch, is very secretive so this sounds like something she would do."

"I'm going to bet two hundred that it's just a date." Luce said, not wishing to believe that her Rain wouldn't tell them something as important as being engaged to their neighbor.

Skull nodded along enthusiastically. "I agree with Mama Luce." He wasn't even entirely sure which one was true, or if any of it were true in general...but usually when Luce made a guess at things it ended up to be true…

"I'm going to side with Reborn and Fon. They've known the two of them the longest; they know their habits better than we do." Verde said carefully. It took a lot out of him to say that he agreed with anything that Reborn said, but he wasn't keen on losing any bets that had Viper involved in them.

"Can we make bets?" Kyoya asked curiously. If the adults were going to bet about things, he wouldn't mind getting in one of these betting pools.

"Do you have money to spare?" Viper asked, raising a brow at the boy. He had been trying to get money from the child for a while and he always said that he didn't have money.

Kyoya and Viper stared at each other for a moment, neither of them really saying anything and none of the others seemed to want to disrupt them, that is until Kyoya decided against being in the betting pool and turned back to his breakfast.

"That's what I thought, brat." Viper said, sounding pleased with himself. He had written everything down, as per usual.

"What did Kyoya do this time?" Lal asked, re-entering the room with Colonnello close behind. She looked more annoyed than romanced.

Of course, none of them could tell Lal Mirch that they had a betting pool on her, she would shoot it down immediately, and none of them wanted that.

"He said that he wasn't going to do his chores, and I said that if he didn't do his chores then Luce wouldn't make him any of his favorite meals and so Kyoya agreed to do his chores." Viper said, as a flawless liar as always.

Lal gave Kyoya a curious look. "I know you don't like your chores, but I don't think I've ever seen you protest about them." She said raising a brow.

Kyoya shrugged. "It felt like a protesting kind of day." He told his 'aunt'. He was just as curious as the others were as to what was going on.

"I don't want to take a bath today!" Tsuna shouted, surprising all of them. He was still in his lion pajamas, as per usual.

The Arcobaleno laughed at the young boy. He always had some sort of issue with baths that they ruled out to being because he was young and from their experience with Basil it was clear that five year old boys weren't fond of bath time.

"You have to take a bath, little one. I'm not having a stinking child in my home." Reborn said, giving the boy a sideways glance and a hint of a smile.

Tsuna pouted, but he didn't really have any arguments as to why he shouldn't have to take a bath...so he stuck his last forkful of pancakes into his mouth.

"We should all get going now. Long days ahead of us and all." Luce said, picking up her empty cups and dish's. "Verde, if you would please give Tsunayoshi a bath for me. I would appreciate it." She was usually the one to spend most of the day with Tsunayoshi, but she had already wasted enough time at home and wanted to get this meeting over with.

Verde made a noise in the back of his throat. He wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do with the kid when it came to 'bath time'. "I don't even know where his room is." He told her truthfully. He wasn't even sure where Kyoya's room was.

"I'll show you where my room is!" Tsuna said excitedly. He loved his room, it was big and comfortable and after his second day in the house the Arcobaleno had let him decorate it! Kyoya had decorated his room as well, but Tsuna found it less fun than his room and more like something he would find back in Japan.

"Have fun you two." Skull said, finding the situation amusing. It wasn't often that Verde was faced with something that he wasn't sure how to handle, and when he was faced with something he didn't understand it was amusing. If he didn't have a show today he would have helped.

"We should be going, kora." Colonnello said to Fon. He had, of course agreed to take Kyoya to school on their way out.

"You ready to go Viper?" Lal asked, grabbing her car keys and a sports drink from the fridge. Neither of the two had time to go to their usual cafe for coffee today.

Viper stood up, stretching as he did so. "My cloak is in my room. Meet me in the car." He said, tugging his long violet hair into a braid. He found that it was easier to hide it under his cloak if it was all tied up first.

"Try not to get blood on my carpets at the end of the day!" Luce called out. She didn't go out much since becoming pregnant, but when she did leave the house for business she always found blood on the floors and was getting tired of having it cleaned.

"We'll try our best." Her guardians, and Colonnello said to the woman.

* * *

"So, what do you know about science?" Verde asked Tsuna, forty minutes later when Tsuna had had a bath and was dressed in a fresh pair of clothes.

"Absolutely nothing." Tsuna said, speaking honestly. Lal had told him that if they were truthful with one another things would be easier for all of them. He was never one to lie to begin with though.

"How do you feel about learning some science while I make this playroom?" Verde asked. If he was going to spend a day with the little one he was going to teach him stuff as he went.

Tsuna bit his lip in thought. The idea of science itself was awesome to him, but he wasn't really interested in learning about it. It sounded far too complex for him. "I don't really think I want to know anything right now." He told Verde.

Verde sighed disappointedly. He knew a thing or two about teaching and knew that forcing a kid to learn something didn't ever turn out well, but he was hoping that he could teach the boy something. "How do you feel about slides?" He asked instead.

Tsuna perked up. "I love slides!" He said excitedly, and proceed to tell Verde about a slide back in Japan that he claimed was taller than their house.

Verde went about making blueprints for the room while Tsuna talked, and of course he made the appropriate sounds as the young boy went on rambling, three years living with Luce had taught him how to pretend like he was listening and genuinely cared for what the other was saying. There were things that he needed to order, but most he could make himself.

"What does that do?" Tsuna asked, at least two hours later when Verde had left the room and come back with a cart full of crap. Tsuna was pointing to the blow torch, which was the first thing that Verde had pulled out of the pile of crap.

"This," Verde said proudly, "is a blow torch." He told the young one as he displayed what it could do.

Tsunayoshi was impressed, and made the appropriate noises of a person whose interest had been caught. "How do you use it?"

There it was, Verde's chance to teach the boy something useful. "Come here little one, I'm gonna teach you some stuff." He said, wondering if that feeling deep in his chest was what some people called pride.

Truthfully, he had been planning on teaching all of this to Aria when the time came - in hindsight it would be forever until he could actually get away with teaching Aria anything-but Tsunayoshi was the next best thing. Kyoya might take an interest in mechanics one day, Verde suspected that it would take a few years for that to happen.

Tsunayoshi was a better student when it was something that he found interesting, like fire, He got the hang of welding in two hours, with a few errors-nothing that wasn't expected from a beginner. Verde's only concern was Luce's reaction; she hadn't exactly told Verde that he wasn't allowed to teach Tsunayoshi or Kyoya how to do dangerous things like weld but he was pretty sure that she would have some sort of fit.

"When Luce and Lal come back home you can tell them that you helped me make the playground, thing, whatever the fuck this room is." Verde said, taking a larger than usual gulp of coffee. It was hours later, maybe around two o'clock, and the two of them were in the kitchen for a food break because Tsuna was complaining about being hungry and Verde sure couldn't let the boy go hungry.

Tsunayoshi was sitting at the table eating a sandwich, and had been pretty quiet for the most part while Verde instructed him on what to do. "Do you think they would be proud?" He asked, nibbling on a corner of the sandwich. He knew well enough by now to know that he wasn't allowed to repeat certain words that the Arcobaleno, as he learned they were called, said around the house because they were bad words.

It wasn't something that Verde had expected to hear from the boy, and he had to actually think about the answer. "I think," Verde said after a long stretch of silence, "that they would be happy to know that you've found a new skill." It was technically the whole reason he was with the Arcobaleno was so that he could learn things he wouldn't with his parents so he assumed that the two women, and the rest of them, would be proud he had finally gotten a hang of something...but that was only the technical reason.

Tsuna looked pleased enough to hear that from him. "When are the others getting home?" He asked.

Verde couldn't honestly answer that question. The person that was most likely to come home early today was Skull, but that wasn't a definite thing either because somedays Viper got home early and spent hours locked up in his room until dinner.

"I would say that tonight is going to be a takeout night." Verde answered finally.

Tsuna gave him a questioning look. "What is a takeout night?" He asked, eager to learn anything he could about his new family. He loved them a lot already, and every time he learned something new about them it just made him happier.

"Takeout nights are the nights when all of us are too tired to cook dinner, but we haven't eaten either because we've all been so busy, so we order stuff from a whole bunch of restaurants and have them delivered to the house and sit around and bullshit about our days." Verde said. "Of course, Fon doesn't really have anything to bullshit about today, but I assume that he is going to come home intoxicated and when he comes home intoxicated he gets a mad craving for mapo tofu, and if there's mapo tofu in the house Viper is gonna get their hands on it as quickly as possible." Verde explained. He tried to recall what everyone usually ordered when they had takeout nights, but it seemed that the most stable thing in takeout nights was the mapo tofu.

"Can I order sushi?" Tsuna asked curiously.

"We can't order anything with raw fish, kid. Mama Luce can't have it and it makes her upset when she sees us having something she can't have. You don't want to upset Mama Luce, do you?" Verde asked.

Tsuna shook his head. He had only seen Mama Luce upset once, and he wasn't very fond of it. "I don't want to make Mama Luce upset."

"Reborn likes getting mild foods, you'll be fine." Verde said, getting slight amusement from the fact that Reborn of all people couldn't even handle spicy tofu. "How about we get back to our room."

* * *

"Verde, Tsunayoshi, I'm home." Luce called out, placing her house keys in the empty bowl gently. It seemed that she was the first one to get home, which was weird because she thought by now Skull would be home. What she expected was to find Tsuna in the parlor room coloring while Verde read a book about bioengineering on the couch. What she found, was Tsuna and Verde sitting in the room next to their gym welding, their five year old way welding, together what looked to be a slide.

"Hello, Luce." Verde said, not looking up from what he was doing.

"Why is the five year old welding?" Luce asked, figuring that it was best to just jump straight to the point with Verde. She wasn't even sure why she left him alone with Tsuna, she should have known that this would have been the end result.

"He wanted to learn how, and he's doing pretty well so I don't see why you're giving me the Judgy Face." Verde said. He didn't have to look up to know that she was giving him the most judgemental look she could manage.

"If he gets hurt, Lal Mirch is going to kick your ass. Reborn will kick your ass. Kyoya will actually try and murder you." Luce said. She realized that she should probably be more worried about Tsuna, but she figured that if he hadn't killed himself by now it was fine.

"He did most of it himself, you should be proud Luce." Verde said. "Are the others home?"

"Not that I know of." Luce said, feeling suddenly exhausted. Her day was more stressful than she was expecting, which was saying something. She wanted mushu pork, and eggrolls, and oh how she wanted at least a gallon of gelato. "Takeout?" She asked.

"Takeout." Verde agreed happily.

"How about we get you cleaned up," Luce said, giving Tsuna a look that said she was ready to give him at least three baths to wash off all the dirt and grime that had somehow made itself onto him in the hours that she had left the two alone together.

Tsuna had stopped what he was doing when Luce came in, and was now staring at Luce in horror. "But I already took a bath."

"That was this morning. It's past our regular dinner time, and you're covered in grease." Luce said, picking up the boy. She didn't even want to think about how many times she was gonna have to wash her dress to get the now forming grease stains out of it.

"I'm calling in Tartugas." Verde called out, sounding more excited for the idea of Mexican food than usual.

"Order chicken enchiladas, and a platter of empinadas while you're at it, and call the Jade Wolf - they should know our usual order by now." Luce said from the door. She figured that by the time she gave Tsuna a bath and got him dressed, then went to get changed herself, at least two of the others would be back.

* * *

 **Okay, so this is a long chapter and idk if the next chapter is gonna be long or not but I'm hoping that it doesn't take me three damn weeks to update it. Tartugas is actually a Mexican restaurant that my neighbor likes to go to and I got Jade Wolf from Shadowhunters tbh.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Guy's, I'm still alive. I swear. I know that these updates are getting less frequent and I'm sorry, but the closer I get to graduation the less my work ethic is to be totally honest.**

 **I don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**

* * *

Viper was exhausted; he had spent most of the day training new Mist recruits,sorting the weakest from the strongest and assigning them to groups while the other Varia did the same with their new recruits, and when he was done with that he had done some workouts that Lal Mirch had suggested for him (after hearing her complain that he needed to have some sort of muscle if there was ever a time where his illusions might fail for a solid month), and after all of that was over and done with he paid the bills, and finished managing the Varia's finances, and when he was finished with that he had to go over all of it with Squalo and Bel just decided that he was going to sit in for that meeting. His muscles were burning, and he wanted mapo tofu. He deserved mapo tofu.

"Who the fuck is home?" Viper shouted, annoyed that half of the house was dark. He had materialized into the kitchen, hoping to be greeted with the scent of food. No one had even lit any candles, which was weird because someone always lit candles. Maybe it was a takeout night. Oh how he wanted it to be a takeout night.

"Luce is giving Tsuna a bath, and that's the extent of whose home." Verde said, coming into the kitchen with what Viper expected was an empty cup of coffee. "I called Tortugas and Jade Wolf. I don't really remember the restaurant that you and Fon order your tofu from, but feel free to call them." He said.

Viper had bittersweet emotions on takeout nights, because he loved take out food but the money they spent on takeout was equal to their grocery shopping bill for a week. He wanted mapo tofu though, so he was going to ignore the nights total bill for now. "I'm down for mapo tofu and a strawberry daiquiri." He said truthfully. He didn't drink often, but he felt like he deserved to indulge tonight. Damn Lal Mirch and her work out regimes.

"I'll get the blender." Verde said. He was making his fifth pot of coffee for the day, figuring that the others needed it almost as much as he did. The nice thing to do would be to make a pot of tea for Fon, but Verde felt that he had done more than enough today already.

"Where is Kyoya, shouldn't he be home by now?" Viper asked, scrolling through his phone for the restaurant's number. He really should have them on speed dial by now.

Verde was still. He knew something was off, but he couldn't put his finger on what exactly was off until now. "I'm going to assume that Fon and Colonnello have him. I'm also going to assume that if he wasn't with them he's smart enough to get home from school on his own."

"Well, it's midnight so I'm gonna assume that the brat is with them." Viper said, rummaging through their liquor cabinet for the rum.

"You assumed right, kora." Colonnello said, half dragging Fon into the kitchen with Kyoya following behind tiredly. "He keeps asking for mapo tofu, but I have no idea what that is."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I ordered it already." Viper called out, fishing out the rest of the things he needed for his drink. "Who wants strawberry dalquri's?"

"How much is it gonna charge us?" Verde asked. He wouldn't mind a drink or two.

"Not much, maybe nine." He shrugged. If he could get nine dollars a drink out of the rest of them he could possibly get the money that they spent on takeout back.

Verde and Colonnello exchanged looks, was nine dollars worth a drink made by Viper of all people? Of course, he did put extra rum in the drinks, so they supposed that nine dollars was worth it. It was take out night, a lot of things were worth it on take out night.

"Alright, I'm down." Verde said, throwing all of his morals out the window for now.

"I want a smoothie." Kyoya said, feeling oddly left out.

Viper opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. "I mean I could make you a smoothie but it's takeout night so you could totally get away with having a milkshake. Fon is drunk off of his ass, so he won't even tell you no." He told Kyoya using the same voice he often used when he wanted to get his way. He wasn't even sure why he was encouraging him to have a milkshake, it just felt right to do it. Kyoya looked interested though, and he felt pretty satisfied so Viper figured that he did good.

Kyoya looked to Colonnello in question, who just shrugged as if to say that he should totally go for it.

"I want a milkshake." Kyoya said.

"You bet your ass you do." Viper said, feeling oddly proud of himself for encouraging this bad behavior in their good little Kyoya.

Luce took that moment to come back into the room with Tsunayoshi in her arms, both dressed up in their night clothes. She perked up when she saw that multiple people were home. "What's all been ordered?" She asked as a greeting, putting Tsuna down in his usual seat.

"I ordered Mapo Tofu, Verde ordered Chinese food and Mexican, and I'm making strawberry dalquri's and milkshakes." Viper said as way of answering. "I'm sure that Reborn is gonna get home and order some weak ass shit like American food. Bastard is gonna get a cheeseburger, I bet you."

"What are Lal and Skull gonna order, kora?" Colonnello asked, he was thinking about ordering Vietnamese food from a restaurant that he liked. He was fairly certain that Lal was going to order Indian food though, she did like Indian food.

"Lal likes Indian food, and Skull's usual has already been ordered." Verde said. They were all predictable with their orders sometimes that he's not sure why they haven't just ordered for everyone.

The sound of the door flying open stopped them from saying anything else. At this point they figured that any of the three could be pissed enough at this point to throw the door open angrily.

"I'm so fucking tired!" Lal Mirch shouted, slamming the door shut, They could hear her angrily kicking her shoes off and throwing them in the basket that usually held her work shoes, and the sound of her throwing what was assumed to be her cloak in the same closet. "Why the fuck is it fucking dark in this house?"

"Lal's home." Fon said, laughing hysterically.

"Should we be concerned? That was three dollars in the swear jar in less than a minute and she isn't usually like that." Tsuna said, sounding more concerned than any of them looked.

The adults waved him off. "It's nothing to worry about, she gets like this when she has long assignments like this one was."

Lal came in looking like a hurricane had tried to knock her over ten times and failed every single one of those times. "I'm never going to Russia again." She said, unceremoniously plopping down on her seat. "Are we ordering out?" She asked, running a hand through her tattered hair.

"You want a drink?" Viper asked, holding up the blender proudly.

Lal gave Viper a look of confusion. "I'm not really sure what's going on, but I'll take a drink anyway." She said, completely unfazed by the question. It didn't answer her original question, but she felt like rum would make her feel better.

"There's blood on you, kora." Colonnello said, eyeing the various blood stains on her.

Lal gave him a blank look. "When do I not?" She asked, holding her hand out for the drink. "Did someone order me my Indian food, or do I need to call them?" She asked.

"You're a big girl with blood on you and everything, you can order your own Indian food." Luce said, mildly amused.

Lal gave her a look of annoyance. "Colonnello, give me your phone." She said, holding her hand out for the phone.

"Why can't you use yours, kora?" Colonnello asked, giving her his phone anyway.

"It got destroyed when I got shot in the fucking hip. Saved my hip, but I mean now I need a new phone again." Lal said, shrugging. She typed in the phone number for her favorite Indian place and forced herself to get up so that she could get herself decently cleaned up.

Viper groaned audibly, they constantly had to buy new phones because they constantly got wrecked in missions and he was about ready to just start making them use disposable phones from now on. It would save him a lot of money.

"Ooooh, Reborn has really nice hips." Fon said, bursting out into giggles.

Lal and Viper snickered, drunk Fon was the best Fon to have around on any type of day. It just turns out that today was a shit day and the two needed a drunk Fon to amuse them.

"How nice of hips are they?" Viper asked, sipping his drink.

"Like, on a scale of one to ten, I would totally give Reborn's hips a twenty." Fon said, sounding dead serious.

"Who has the best eight pack in the house?" Viper asked, genuinely curious. There were multiple ways that this could be answered and all of them were true. He just wanted to see what Fon's answer would be.

"I think my own eight pack is pretty great." Fon said, lifting the hem of his shirt up for all to see.

"If I weren't a man with a baby on the way I would totally tap that." Reborn said, coming into the house with a tired Skull following behind him. "I thought we agreed that Lal Mirch had the best eight pack."

"We did, he's just drunk." Lal said, throwing Colonnello his phone and her wallet. "I'm taking a shower, pay for my crap." She told him.

"Give me the wallet." Viper said when Lal left, hand outstretched for it.

Colonnello shook his head and held the wallet close to him. "I was trusted with it, kora, and I'm not gonna give it to you just so you can steal all her money."

Viper gave the man an appalled look, nose scrunched up in disgust. "You think I would steal from my platonic soulmate?"

Fon cut Colonnello off before he could argue. "He just likes it when Lal Mirch trusts him with things. Once upon a time when we were younger, before the accident, Lal used to trust us with everything but she stopped doing that and now whenever she gives us anything to hold onto it's like we're slowly getting our Lal back after all these years." He said, sighing into the cup of coffee that Luce had prepared for him.

Reborn patted Fon on the head affectionately. "What Fon is trying to say is that lover boy likes when Lal pays enough attention to him to give him things."

Luce gave Reborn a look that said they were going to have a talk later, but before she could actually say something the doorbell rang to signal that someone's food had arrived.

"I'm not getting that, you know how much I don't like paying for things." Viper said, getting the stuff that was needed for Kyoya's milkshake. He would just add it to Fon's bill and be done with it...or he could start keeping a tab on the kids and once they started working take it out of their pay...yes, that sounded like a nice idea.

"I'm too intoxicated to get the door." Fon said, sipping at the drink Viper had slid his way a few minutes ago.

"I spent the day with Tsuna, I'm free of any responsibilities for a week." Verde said; He felt that it was a fair trade.

"Colonnello, you got Fon drunk and you have Lal's money; you're getting the door." Reborn said. Usually he would get the door but it had been a long day and Colonnello was easy to boss around.

Colonnello didn't even blink twice, just stood up and went to get the door.

"You're taking advantage of him." Luce chided, hitting him on the shoulder gently.

Reborn rolled his eyes. "I'm not taking advantage of him if he willingly does everything Lal, Fon and I ask of him." He said kicking his feet onto the table just to be slapped away by Luce.

"We always said that he was too good to be friends with us." Fon said dreamily.

"You people had an odd childhood." Viper said, pushing milkshakes in Kyoya and Tsuna's direction as he sat.

"Who ordered Mexican food, kora?" Colonnello asked, dropping a bag of food on the table.

"That would be the pregnant woman. She has free reign of everything." Reborn said. It was rule of thumb that Luce got a portion of everything that was ordered and delivered or made in the house. "You get nothing."

Luce laughed and put a protective hand on her stomach. "He's joking, you can have whatever you want from the stuff we ordered."

"That's not true, he can't have any of my Mapo Tofu." Viper said. "And Lal doesn't share food."

Skull laughed and stood to get plates, since none of them had bothered to do that already. "You can split the Chinese food with me." He said kindly.

Colonnello smiled brightly and Luce felt like she had to resist the urge to swoon. She really wasn't sure why, maybe it was the pregnancy hormones.

"Skull, don't feed it; it won't leave if you feed it." Lal said. "Trust me, I fed it once nineteen years ago and then it followed me to the military, and then it moved in across the street. There really is no getting rid of it." None of them were surprised that Lal was already out of the shower, she was known to take short showers and spend the least amount of time getting ready for anything in the house next to Verde, who thought that jeans, a lab coat, and a t-shirt was an acceptable outfit when they had company over. Lal herself was dressed casually in a pair of workout shorts and a tank top that exposed her mid section.

"You used to love me, kora." Colonnello said, a hand over his heart as he feigned hurt.

Lal snorted. "Please, we both know that my tar black soul isn't capable of holding love. Only mild fondness." She said with disgust, as if fondness was a disease that would kill her.

"And when she says mild, she really means mild. One time when we were twelve she saw me get into a gang fight and when I asked for her help she only shouted ways to break a person's wrist." Fon said, smiling fondly at the memory. He had gotten himself out of the gang fight almost as soon as it had started, but he still would have liked it if Lal helped him in the dire state of need.

"How is that mild fondness?" Skull asked curiously. He wasn't familiar with fondness that included violence. He should be by now, but he really wasn't.

"She sounded affectionate when she said it." Reborn told him. "And it was pretty solid advice, I used that very same technique last week."

Lal, looking proud, leaned over the table to high five Reborn. "You're damn right you did."

"Who raised you people?" Viper asked. He was subtly picking things out of the take out boxes and thanked whatever god was out there that none of the others bothered to call him out on it.

"Lal." The three boys said automatically.

"Say what you want, but I'm a great parent...aren't I, Tsunayoshi?" Lal asked, poking the young boy in the stomach with her finger, causing the little boy to giggle tiredly. "Why is he even up? It's one in the morning and the kids really should be sleeping."

"I only fed him once today, and I mean I don't think the kids ever had Mexican food before so we need to ease him into other cultural foods." Verde said.

"We need to start teaching this kid important stuff." Reborn said, making a face at the thought. It was impossible enough to teach Tsuna anything new. He was also going to have to have a talk with Verde about how feeding children once a day wasn't a good idea, and that he needed to learn more about children before he was left alone with Aria.

"Speaking of little ones...how do you guys feel about more?" Luce asked curiously, looking between the people that she considered to be her family.

"As in you're having twins more? Luce, are you having twins?" Verde asked, glancing down at Luce's quickly swelling stomach.

Reborn looked like he was about to have a heart attack or cry tears of joy. None of them were really sure. when it came to Reborn and emotions. They were all still pretty sure Reborn was some sort of demon spawn. "Are you having twins?" He asked in a choked up voice.

Luce shook her head no. "I'm not having twins, I was just asking what you lot would think about having a few more kids around Tsuna and Kyoya's age around."

"Are you bringing more children into this house? Because I swear to god Luce if you bring more kids into this house I'm charging you per kid." Viper said. He was still trying to get their budget back in order with two new people!

"Viper Esper, these kids are coming into this house because people were charging for these children. So, we are going to be taking in a few more children and in the meantime I'm having an orphanage built for the rest of the children who decided that they wanted to stay in the Giglo Nero HQ instead of come with me here.." Luce said. "These kids have been through literal hell and we are going to provide them with a safe, happy home."

"How many children?" Viper asked. He couldn't hold it against his boss for taking in the kids, they had more than enough room for more people and Luce would take in anything that needed a home (she had taken in the Arcobaleno when she didn't necessarily have to and that itself was a weird story), he just wanted to budget appropriately.

"Five. Four boys and a girl. I'm bringing them over tomorrow night. Right now they're in the medic wing but I was assured that they would be able to move in quickly." Luce said, speaking professionally so that the little ones knew to take this seriously.

"I'm assuming that we all have to take a personal day to get them used to us?" Verde asked, raising a brow.

Luce nodded curtly. "It would help." Of course they were going to have to explain all of this to Fon when he was sober, and not passed out on their kitchen table but that was a reasonable thing to do.

"Can I fight them?" Kyoya asked. Fighting things was always his top priority, and he needed to know if he was allowed to fight them or not. It was very, very important to him.

"No, you cannot fight them. Not yet. Give it a few months. Maybe a year." Luce said strictly. She had already had to give Kyoya rules about fighting random people on the street, she might as well tell him that he couldn't fight the new kids.

The Arcobaleno exchanged glances, as if silently asking one another if they were ready to go from having zero children to seven, soon to be eight. They weren't ready, but it wasn't like they could say no to Luce. The woman was building an orphanage for gods sake!

"You are so lucky we love you." Viper said for all of them.

Luce smiled brightly. "Great to hear it, because you lot don't really get a choice in this...now, someone please get the door someone is about to ring the doorbell." Luce said smiling brightly, right as the doorbell rang.

* * *

 **So, can any of you guess who these little ones are going to be? I mean it isn't that difficult to figure it out but I like to hear from you lot. I know that this chapter was a lot shorter than usual, but I promise that I'm gonna try and make the next chapter longer.**


	9. Chapter 9

**So, I would really just like to say that I'm not dead I'm just a lazy piece of shit and don't really feel motivated to write this story at all...so yeah. I also just registered for college, so there's that in my life now.**

 **I still don't own Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**

* * *

Lal woke up in the dead of night to the feeling of slight pressure on her chest, shaking her gently.

"Lal, wake up!" It was Tsuna, sitting on her chest in his pajamas, eyes wide and hair wild from sleep.

With a groan Lal sat up, putting the small boy in her lap. "What do you want, brat?" She asked, stifling a yawn.

"I want to go to the store." He said, like that made all the sense in the world.

It was three in the morning, and Lal had only gotten to bed a few hours before due to some paperwork that she had to get done for the military. She was not amused. "Why do we need to go to the store at three in the morning, Tsunayoshi?" She asked, running a hand through her hair.

Tsuna gave her a determined look. "When we moved in, Mama Luce gave Kyo and I stuffed animals." He told her.

"Yes, yes she did. She said it was to make you two feel more at home." Even though Kyoya refused to admit that he loved the giant stuffed bird Luce gave him, everyone of them knew that it was his favorite thing in the world. "Where are you going with this Tsunayoshi?"

"I want to get the other's their own stuffed animals, for when they finally move in with us!" Tsuna said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"So we have to go to the store at three am to get them stuffed animals?" Lal asked, confused. She didn't understand why they couldn't just wait until a reasonable time.

"What if they're here when I wake up? I want to give them their welcome home presents as soon as they get here, Lal!" Tsuna said, giving her one of those looks that she swore could get anyone to do whatever it was that he asked of them.

Lal swore under her breath and picked Tsuna up, promptly dropping him back onto her bed. He bounced slightly, giggling the whole time. "Let me get dressed, and we can go get Colonnello." She told him.

"Why are we getting Colonnello?" Tsuna asked, burying himself into her pillows.

"If I have to be up at three in the morning, so does he." Lal said simply, pulling on a dark blue cardigan over her tank top. "Go put some shoes on, you're not walking around without shoes." She told him.

* * *

Due to his time in the military, and his time living with Reborn and Lal, Colonnello had gotten used to being woken up at random times. The crack of dawn to run laps around their old neighborhood, random drills in the middle of the night. It didn't phase him when his doorbell rung at three fifteen in the morning.

"Get dressed, we're going out." Lal said as way of greeting while Tsuna waved happily from where he was snuggly sat on her hip.

Colonnello stepped aside to let the two in while he got dressed. "Give me a few minutes, kora." He said through a yawn.

Lal breezed past him and lied fully on the couch, pulling Tsuna onto her chest. "What do you want to get all of them?" She asked, absently running a hand through his hair as if that would flatten it out

Tsuna made what they called his 'thinking face', "I want to get them stuffed animals, and I want to make them care packages." He told her finally.

"What are you going to put in them?" She asked.

"Chocolates, and body soaps. Because body soaps smell nice." Tsuna said, remembering the lemon soap that Luce used on him during his bath time.

"What if they don't like what you pick out for them?" Lal asked.

Tsuna gave her a blank look, like he didn't think that part through enough. "We're just gonna have to bring them with us to the store one day so they can pick them out!" He said.

"I'm sure they don't need bath soaps, Tsuna. Luce would have handled that when they first came to stay at her family's home." Lal said, yawning once more. She really needed an energy drink right now.

"Why don't we get them coloring books, kora? Everyone loves coloring books." Colonnello said. He was still getting dressed while he walked over to them.

Tsuna perked up. Coloring books were fun, and the Arcobaleno let him color at the table before they had meals.

"Alright, we'll get them candies and coloring books, and stuffed animals. That should be enough." Lal said, standing up. "I don't want to be out until five, so you better make your mind up quickly." She told him.

* * *

"Why are we stopping here?" Tsuna asked when Lal pulled into a convenient store.

"I need caffeine in my system or I'm going to fall asleep behind the wheel, and you don't want that." Lal explained through another yawn. She really needed to get back into a regular sleep schedule.

The store was empty save for the woman behind the counter, who looked like she was going to pass out at any second.

"You can pick out a juice box, but only one. Get something you like because I'm not getting you another one if you get something you've never had and don't like it." Lal said to Tsuna where they stood in front of a display of juice boxes.

Tsuna liked to try all of the exotic juices that the Arcobaleno bought, but every so often someone would come home with a juice that he just didn't like and would try to drink it just to get half way through with a glass of it to complain that he didn't like it. Luce and Fon let him get away with it, but Lal couldn't stand when he did so.

"What does pomegranate juice taste like?" Tsuna asked, pointing to the box.

"Sour grape juice." Lal said, which was in all honesty just Reborn and Colonnello's opinions on it. "If you want to try it some other time just tell me so I can add it to the grocery list."

Tsuna made a face. "What do you like?" He asked.

"Lal Mirch is picky, kora, she only likes stuff that's freshly made when it comes to juices." Colonnello said affectionately. "She's a sucker for fresh fruits."

Lal rolled her eyes at him. He was right, but she wasn't going to admit it to anyone. "I like mango juice, and Viper likes Strawberry milk if you haven't figured that one out yet." She told the little one, who was practically attached to her hip when she wasn't driving. He was attached to all of their hips, someone had to be holding this child at all times or he would look at them like they had personally insulted him. Lal was pretty sure that it was all Skull's fault but she wasn't sure.

While Tsuna was thinking, because he had to make sure he got exactly the right thing if Lal was only letting him pick one, Colonnello went to get them their usual sports drink.

"I want orange juice." Tsuna said finally, reaching for one of the boxes.

Lal nodded and took the drink from him, because if she knew him at all she knew there was a slight chance that he was gonna drop it.

"Alright, kora, do we have everything?" Colonnello asked

"We've got juice boxes, and energy drinks. What else does a person need at three in the morning?" Lal asked, reaching for her wallet so that she could just hand the poor girl the money.

"Can we get chocolate?" Tsuna asked, looking at one of the chocolate bars at the counter in awe.

"I'm not giving you chocolate at three in the morning." Lal said, slapping his hands away from the candy gently. "Besides, we're getting candy when we go to the store."

"Your son is cute." The woman behind the counter said , giving Tsuna a small smile and a wave.

Lal stared blankly at the girl, money in one hand while the other made sure that Tsuna didn't fall off her hip. Of course, she could logically understand why the girl would say that...but she was tired, and wasn't sure how the hell to respond to something like that.

Colonnello laughed, and took the money out of Lal's hand to give to the girl. "Thank you, kora. She's just a little tired right now." He told her, like Tsuna was actually their child. Like Lal was his wife. Like they were actually a family.

Lal was tired, she was so tired that she wasn't even in the mood to hit him and make him explain that they didn't have a child together. She would deal with that when she had extensive amounts of sugar in her system.

"Let me drive, kora, you're still took tired and I don't want to get into an accident." Colonnello said, reaching for Lal's car keys when they were outside. In all honesty he just wanted to drive her car. It was a pretty nice car.

Lal gave him a look of utter betrayal, but let him take the keys from her. "If you crash another one of my cars I will end your life and will make it look like it was all an accident." She told him.

"I love you, too." Colonnello said, starting the car up.

Lal hit him on the head with her wallet.

* * *

"Do you have anything picked out, or are we just winging it here?" Lal asked curiously. She had consumed all of her sports drink, and most of Colonnello's, and was finally starting to feel like a human being again.

Tsuna was still perched on her hip, while Colonnello was in charge of pushing the cart. "I know what stuffed animals I wanna get for them!" He told her proudly.

"If you say so, kid." Lal sighed. This was going to be either a long trip or a short one and she prayed to god it was a short one.

"What kind of candy do you want to get them?" Colonnello asked, thinking back to all the junk foods he enjoyed as a kid. Back before Lal kept him on a strict diet of healthy things so he would actually stand a chance against all of the others.

"Those boxes of candy that Luce brings home!" Tsuna said excitedly. Luce always brought home treats whenever she had to go out for the day, which was more often now that she had the orphanages to build.

Lal made a humming sound, and picked up a stuffed dragon. "Dragons are cool, right?" She asked.

Tsuna nodded. "But it's not what I want to get any of them."

"What do you want to get them, kora?" Colonnello asked, reaching for the stuffed falcon that was catching most of his attention. He wasn't even sure what he was going to do with it, but he was totally gonna get it.

"I want to get two owls, they have to match, and a dog, and a kitty, and a baby frog." Tsuna told them.

"If we get one of them a stuffed frog we have to get Viper a bigger stuffed frog. She's petty and would most definitely steal it from the poor kid." Lal said, searching the aisles for any of the stuffed animals that Tsuna had said he wanted.

Tsuna was happy that they taught him words that he wouldn't have understood without them, because now he understood what Lal meant when she said that Viper was petty, and even though he didn't want to admit that she was right, she really was. "I found the owls!" He said, pointing to a pair of white owls with big blue eyes near Colonnello's head.

Colonnello got them, and with approval from Tsuna, threw them in their cart.

"Does it matter what kind of dog?" Lal asked, searching the aisle for the animal. She had recently been told that it does matter what kind of stuffed animal you gave a child. Because yes, they like dogs, but not _that_ kind of dog.

"A golden retriever!" Tsuna said, because those dogs were pretty and he was definitely going to get them the prettiest things he could.

"That's oddly specific, kora." Colonnello said, looking at the child curiously. Was he like that as a kid? He was pretty sure that he wasn't this nice or this observant as a child.

"Reborn's been teaching him that if he doesn't specify something well enough than he doesn't get anything, so he has to be extremely specific when he's choosing things. It's why he took so long to pick out a juice box." Lal said, searching for anything that would even resemble a golden retriever. What she found was an orange cat with stripes and green eyes. "Tsunayoshi, how does this look?" She asked, holding up the cat for the little one to see.

Tsuna looked at it, and made a face that didn't look approving. "I don't like it." He told her.

"What about this one?" Colonnello asked. He was holding out a small grey looking cat with black stripes and large yellow eyes.

Lal had never seen the child look more excited about a cat. It was slightly offensive, but she was going to let it slide this one time.

"So, we've got the owls, the cat, and a falcon? What the fuck is a falcon doing in our cart?" Lal asked, looking at the falcon in disgust. Tsuna didn't say shit about a falcon. "Colonnello, you're a twenty-three year old man you are not getting a stuffed falcon." She said when she realized that he must have been the person to put it there. Tsuna didn't even like big birds.

"Why the hell not?" Colonnello asked, hand over his heart in mock offense.

"What are you going to do with it, are you going to cuddle it at night to make up for the fact that you're alone? " Lal asked, free hand on her hip.

"Because I think it's cool, and I can do whatever I want. I'm a twenty-three year old man...you don't have to be such a bitch, Lal." Colonnello sneered. He had to defend his bird, for personal reasons.

Lal rolled her eyes. "You're a bigger kid than Tsuna and Kyoya are." She said, and promptly turned away from him, walking further down the aisle of stuffed toys with Tsuna still clinging tightly to her..

Colonnello glared at her, because of course Lal had to start being terrible now that she wasn't half asleep...and then he got a good look at her. He always looked at her, how could he not look at her all the damn time? But something was standing out more than usual. "You know, kora, this is a sight I never thought I would see." He called out.

In unison Lal and Tsuna turned their heads to look at him. "And what is that, Colonnello?" Lal asked, exasperated.

"You with a child on your hip...you look really ladylike...you should really think about having kids, kora." He said with a grin.

As expected Colonnello found himself being attacked with stuffed animals of all sorts. Some of them actually hurt too, which kind of set him off because weren't these things supposed to be soft as hell? Oh well, he would figure it out later.

"Lal, don't throw that one!" Tsunayoshi shouted, reaching for the plushie that Lal was gearing up to throw at Colonnello's face.

The adults made a sound, because who in their right mind would tell Lal Mirch what to do, before they both seemed to realize that Lal was holding what looked like a golden retriever stuffed animal.

Tsuna made a grabbing gesture for the plush, and was noticeably pleased when Lal dropped it in his outstretched hands. "I love it!" He squealed, and then hugged Lal. "Now all we need to do is find the frogs!" He was getting more excited the longer that he was out, and Lal was afraid that he wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep when they got home. She wasn't sure how she was going to explain to Luce why Tsuna was falling asleep in his eggs when usually he couldn't be stopped from eating them….it was going to be an interesting morning, that was for sure.

Lal was pleased with herself though, she had managed to pick something that pleased little Tsunayoshi for the moment...now only if she could find a stuffed frog...one with a crown would be perfect for Viper.

"Don't you need bags to put this stuff in?" Lal asked, taking the dog from his hands gently so that she could put it with the other things for now. If he wanted to make them care packages than they were going to have to find something to put all the things in there and she knew for a fact that the chances of them having something at home would be slim.

It was clear that, although Tsuna had a wonderful plan for their new little ones, he hadn't exactly thought everything out completely. "Oh…" He said, when he realized his mistake.

"I think I have some stuff at my house, kora, don't worry about it." Colonnello said, not wanting to make the little one cry. He was usually the one that cheered kids up when it came to him and Lal. He was ninety percent sure that Lal wasn't even sure how kids worked half the time.

"You're so weird." Lal said holding Tsuna closer to her just because.

* * *

When they got back from the store it was five in the morning, and Lal was exhausted all over again. They had gotten into arguments about what kind of candies to get everyone, and then Colonnello pointed out that Reborn was probably going to be jealous that he didn't get anything, because Reborn was just that way, which lead to the discussion about Skull being offended that he didn't get anything when Viper and Reborn got cool stuffed animals, which just lead to Lal giving up and agreeing to get the rest of the Arcobaleno stuffed animals and candies that they liked. She even managed to get Basil a dolphin, because the kid had mentioned liking them maybe two months ago and no one was going to tell Lal Mirch that she wasn't being fair by not getting Basil something. The trio went to Colonnello's house next, and it turned out that he did in fact have bags and boxes big enough for their make-shift care packages. Why he had them, Lal wasn't sure and wasn't in the mood to ask.

"You totally owe me for this, kid." Lal said when they dragged themselves back to the Arcobaleno house. She had to be at the CEDEF in three hours, and she wasn't sure how she was even gonna handle Iemitsu today.

Tsuna just hugged her tightly. "Thank you." He said, pressing a wet kiss to her cheek.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Coming home at five in the morning, and with a boy! Lal Mirch, you scandalous little thing." Reborn exclaimed, throwing open the door to the manor right as Lal was reaching for the handle.

Lal swore under her breath while Tsuna squeaked in fear and hid his face in her neck. "You bastard." She hissed.

"Am I mistaken, or did I not just see you coming out of Colonnello's house?" Reborn asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Lal's face turned red. "It was not like _that_ you bastard." She hissed, ready to throw the closest thing at him. Which would be either Tsuna, her wallet and car keys, or the potted mint plant that they had hanging outside.

"Oh, but you're totally thinking about it. Look at your face Lallipop." Reborn teased, leaning forward to pinch her cheeks.

Lal slapped his hands away. "I told you never to call me that." She growled out, pushing past him.

Reborn grabbed her by the arm and dragged her back outside. "So, tell me Lallipop, after all these years did you finally agree to marry him?" He asked quietly.

Lal laughed, a bark of a thing that Tsuna was afraid of. "Oh Reborn, like I would ever tell you. Now, if you would excuse me I think I hear the coffee maker going off." She said, shoving him out of the way so that she could get inside the house.

* * *

It took a week for the children to move into the Arcobaleno house due to one of the kids getting too sick to move for a few days, and the others refusing to leave them for any amount of time, and Luce deciding that they all needed to have a jointed room, so they took the time to find empty rooms and somehow make it so that they could all pass freely into each other's rooms...but of course Tsuna wanted to be close to them as well, so they had to move all of Tsuna's stuff over to accommodate with the others. It was all very painstaking, but very worth it in the long run.

They were getting ready for the kids to be brought over by one of Luce's guardians while they cleaned the house.

It was more of Tsuna rushing to pick up all of the toys that he had left on the floor, but Reborn liked to think that pointing out where he dropped toys was very productive.

"I think there's one behind the couch, Tsuna." Reborn called out from where he was leaning against the threshold of the main sitting room, a cup of espresso in hand.

Fon swatted him lightly on the arm. "You leave him alone, he's trying his best….here, Tsunayoshi, let me help you carry some of those." He cooed, walking up to the boy with outstretched arms.

Tsuna gave him what could only be described as a grateful look before handing over half of his load. "Thank you, Fon." He said.

"Are you still cleaning up? I thought you would be done with that by now." Lal said, wrinkling her nose in disgust when she realized that it had somehow just gotten messier.

"Reborn's just being a jerk and making it messier whenever Tsunayoshi gets it all cleaned up." Fon said, giving Reborn a pointed look.

Reborn shrugged innocently. "I'm not doing anything but stand here and give our young Tsunayoshi direction in his life." He said.

"You're full of shit and we all know it." Lal told him. "Put your espresso down and come help me with something." She said, nudging him in the side with her elbow.

The look of utter disgust on Reborn's face was priceless. "You want me to let my beautiful espresso go cold, just so I could help you with something?" He asked.

"Chug it. Be a man." Lal said tauntingly.

"Those are fightin words, Mirch." Reborn said, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm a fighting kind of person." Lal reminded him.

"Don't you do it." Fon said, arm poised to throw a stuffed animal at one of them.

Reborn did it.

"Oh my god." Fon sighed, watching in horror as Reborn chugged a cup of espresso and slammed the empty cup on the nearest coffee table in victory.

Lal laughed, head tilted back and mouth open. "Now that you don't have espresso to drink you can come help me." She said, a glint in her eyes.

Realization dawned on Reborn too late. He'd been tricked and now he couldn't get out of it. "You sneaky little bitch." He whispered in defeat while Fon and Lal laughed at him.

"Come on, there's a lot of shit to carry over." Lal said, looping her arm around Reborn's. "We'll be back soon. If they get here before us it's all Colonnello's fault."

Fon had heard those words before. Multiple times. Things almost always ended badly when that sentence was used. "Make good choices." He called out.

"What are we even doing?" Reborn whined when they were halfway across their property.

"We're picking a few things up from Colonnello's house, obviously." Lal said simply.

"Is it weird sex things?" Reborn asked hopefully.

"No, it is not weird sex things. Why would I be getting weird sex things from Colonnello of all people? Why would I even want you to know if I were doing weird sex things?" Lal asked.

"After about twenty years I would hope that you're secure enough in our friendship to tell me about any romantic or sexual adventures that you're having... especially if it's with another person that we've known for twenty years." Reborn said.

"Oh my god, are you still on that? I told you I'm not telling you if I said yes to him." Lal said.

"That means you have something to hide! Just tell me, and I swear to god I won't tell the other's. Lal, I think I deserve to know if my best friends were getting married." Reborn said seriously. "I've known you both for my whole life and I feel like if you two were going to get married I should be the first person that you tell."

"If I were getting married, Basil would be the first person I tell." Lal said truthfully. She really loved that kid...well, as much as she could love a child.

It was such a bluntly honest answer that Reborn was shocked that he hadn't thought of it first. Basil was being raised by the CEDEF, the entire core of the CEDEF. That kid probably knew all their secrets….all he needed to do was get Basil alone…

"I'm offended for Fon." Reborn said, because he couldn't let his plan show.

Lal rolled her eyes. "He's fine." She assured him. "We're just going to be in and out, no small talks." She told him when they got to Colonnello's door. It was unlocked for her, and even if it were locked she had a key.

"What if I want to have a nice long talk with my bro?" Reborn asked clearly offended by everything she said.

"You can bro out later, I'm here to get shit done." Lal told him. "We're here." She shouted, slamming the door with a satisfying sound.

"You don't have to be so rude, kora. My door did nothing to you." Colonnello shouted from the kitchen.

"It belongs to you, that's enough to offend me completely." Lal called back, leading Reborn to the kitchen.

Reborn hadn't actually had time to come over and see what the inside of Colonnello's house looked like. He wasn't allowed over by the other neighbors either, so this was his first time going to see the house. "I don't understand why a single man such as yourself has to live in such a large, empty house." He said, looking around the spacious home. It was a lot like their house, but with a different color scheme and a few different floor layouts.

"It's a good neighborhood, kora, and I want to have a big family one day." Colonnello said, causing Lal to snort. "Was there something funny about that?" He asked.

"No, just the fact that you think you're going to have children one day is hilarious." Lal told him. She moved past him to get to the dining room table, where they had left the gifts for everyone a week ago. "Reborn, come help me with these." She said, shoving one of them in his hands.

"What the hell are these?" Reborn asked.

"Tsuna wanted to make sure everyone had a gift when they came to live with us, and that turned into an argument about everyone else in our house being petty bitches and so everyone gets a stuffed animal and candy." Lal sounded like it physically pained her to explain it.

"I admit that most of us are petty bitches." Reborn couldn't argue with that. He had gotten into a three week fight with Verde because Luce made his favorite foods instead of Reborns. It was a huge mess. He was still bitter.

"Are you going to help us, or are you going to stare?" Lal asked, arms full already. There were still a few on the table.

"I could stare at you for the rest of my life, kora." Colonnello said, giving her a stupid smile.

"That was smooth as shit." Reborn said, truly surprised that Colonnello had said something like that.

Lal stared at the two blankley. "So you're gonna help, right?"

Colonnello sighed. "Yes, I'm going to help." He said taking the leftovers.

* * *

"What are those?" Viper asked, looking at all of the crap that was on their table. They had all taken the day off for the kids, and she was enjoying her time off by sleeping in.

"Tsunayoshi made you idiots gifts." Lal said, looking down at the five year old.

"I helped, kora." Colonnello said proudly.

"And I paid for everything, so you're welcome." Lal said, grabbing a cup of coffee.

Luce looked at the makeshift care packages with love. "That was so sweet of you to do for them, Tsuna." She said, picking the boy up to give him a big kiss on the cheek.

"That one is for you." Tsuna said, pointing to one of the baskets on the table.

"I totally helped pick that one out." Lal said from behind her coffee cup. She was perched on the counter, the bowl of fruit from this morning in her lap.

"They should be here any minute now. Viper, dear, will you get the others down here?" Luce asked, turning to Viper.

Viper was halfway through her first cup of coffee, and therefore still dead inside. "You're paying me for this, right?" She asked.

"Yes, I'll add it to your pay." Luce swore that by the time she had Aria she was going to be broke because of Viper.

"Am I allowed to be here for this, kora, or do I need to come over another time?" Colonnello asked. He was comfortable enough to come over whenever he wanted, he even had a guest room, but he still wasn't sure if he was allowed over for things like this.

Luce waved his concern off. "You're allowed to be over here. You practically live here with us and I would prefer the kids get used to you now."

"Don't encourage him, he's a freeloader." Lal grumbled, picking at the fruit. She was looking for any mango cubes, but she was pretty sure she had already eaten all of them.

"Fuck you, kora." Colonnello snapped.

"You wish." Lal snapped back, ready to throw something at him.

Colonnello gave her a stupid smile. "Yeah, I really do."

"You're disgusting." Verde said from the doorway.

Colonnello looked offended, Lal and Luce found it hilarious.

"Are we laughing at Colonnello? Because man, I have stories to tell." Reborn said.

"Tell them about the time you dared him to jump into my pool from the third story of my house." Lal said, looking more excited than Luce remembered her being in a long time.

"You grew up in a three story house?" Verde asked, honestly surprised. When he thought about Lal's upbringing a three story house and a pool were not things that came up.

"Her mom's side of the family was well off." Fon explained. Because it was easier than explaining what her mother really did for a living.

"I totally wanna know how that story ended." Skull said, coming into the kitchen. His face was void of all his usual makeup, but he kept the piercings in.

"Don't you dare, kora." Colonnello warned, looking between the three that he grew up with.

"So, he jumped out of my bedroom window, and landed in a tree, and then fell onto our patio set, and rolled into the pool. He broke his leg and his arm and my mother wouldn't let him near windows for three years after that." Lal said, grinning like it was the best day of her life.

"Her father was furious." Fon added in.

"Why would you do something that stupid?" Kyoya asked his uncle.

"Reborn said he would give me money, kora." Colonnello said like it explained everything.

"Valid reason to do anything." Viper said seriously.

Luce smiled fondly at her guardians. It was nice to see them all interacting nicely with one another for a change and she just loved to get stories like this out of them. It was like she was slowly starting to actually get to know them after all these years. "As nice as these stories are, I can hear the car pulling up so we need to go greet our little ones."

"I can't wait to see them. I hope they think we're cool." Skull said as he attempted to fix his hair so it would stay down for once.

"We want them to like us, not fear us." Luce reminded him gently. She was busy fussing with Vipers hastily put together clothes. "I'm going to get the door, and you guys are going to sit in the sitting room and wait for me to bring them in, no funny business." Luce warned, looking them all in the eye before leaving to go get the door.

When she returned a few minutes later she had a group of small looking children following her, one of them was perched on her hip like Tsuna usually was, and they were all looking around in awe of the giant house.

"Everyone, this is your new family. Say hello!" Luce said to the kids, gesturing to the group that was scattered around the room.

None of the kids seemed interested in greeting them, but the only little girl of the group seemed to be at least a little willing and waved to them shyly. Which resulted in the boy she was practically attached to, to sigh in defeat and wave to them.

"Why don't you introduce yourself." Luce said to the little ones, smiling like it was the best kind of encouragement you could give small children.

The kids gave each other looks, before the boy who had waved stepped up so that he was in front of the others.

"My name," He began, "is Mukuro Rokudo."

* * *

 **Ah yes, these brats are my favorite brats in the world. Also, be sure that you look out for a Soulamte AU that I'm gonna post...one day...soonish...probably...If i'm not too busy with Pokemon Go...**


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